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Preparing For Stars

Before kicking off the second half of the season Friday night, the Cubs unveiled the logo for the 2027 All-Star Game, planned to be played at Wrigley Field next July 13.  The logo incorporates iconography of both the Wrigley Field marquee and the stars from the Chicago flag.

The game has been played at Wrigley Field three previous times, and each was honored as part of the ceremony.  Phil Cavaretta’s niece stood in for him for the 1947 game, with Billy Williams representing the 1962 game and Andre Dawson and Shawon Dunston representing the 1990 game.  Each installed a base with their game’s logo before the new one was unveiled at home plate.

Of course, the giant elephant in the room is the labor uncertainty thanks to an all-but-certain lockout coming following this season that threatens to interfere with the 2027 season.

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Fitbit 12 – Week 26

A tremendous week, notching my highest total since going to Hawaii in 2022 and scoring my first 10,000 step day in nearly 2 years as we reach the halfway point of Year 12.  The week got off to a great start with that 10,000-step day, my first in the state of Illinois since 2021, finishing with 10,100 after utilizing street parking to watch the White Sox battle the A’s.  A neighborhood walk on Monday put me over goal for the second straight day, finishing 13 steps away from 7800.  The start of a steps challenge at work on Tuesday fell 14 steps shy of 7000.  Wednesday dropped off a bit, falling to 6000 steps.  A slight improvement on Thursday went up by exactly 100 steps.  Friday was the low point of the week, coming in with 5400 steps.  A longer walk while charging the car on Saturday morning led to my third day over goal for the week, finishing just over 7500 steps.

Total steps: 50,080

Daily average: 7154.3

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iTunes Top 200 Artists: #2

Music.  It is a powerful thing that brings people together, creates memories, and evokes emotions.  It is the universal language that speaks to the soul.  It forms the soundtrack of our lives.

It has now been five years since we last counted down the Top 200 artists in my iTunes library, featuring the songs I have listened to the most since 2007.  It is time to do so again, seeing which performers still resonate and if any newer ones have joined the fray.  So, without further ado, here are my most listened to artists, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2026.

Today, we have our penultimate entry with the artist I’ve listened to the second most over the last 13-ish years.  Formed in Liverpool, England in 1960, I present to you the Fab Four, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.  Collectively known as The Beatles.

#2: The Beatles
iTunes stats: 2147 plays
Previous ranking: #2

Arriving on US shores in early 1964, The Beatles put together what is today considered a catalog of thirteen studio albums and one compilation.  Those releases are the core of the 99 tracks that make up their 2147 plays, for an average of 21.7 listens per track.  Their counts would be even higher, but their totals were reset in 2009 when I replaced the original CD releases from the 1980s with a remastered box set.

While the band broke up four years before I was born following the release of 1970’s Let It Be, I have managed to see Paul McCartney in concert twice, first at Wrigley Field in 2011 and then again at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater in 2017.  His touring band puts on quite a show and I’m sure I’d be interested if and when he comes back through town again, assuming the price was reasonable.

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Looking Ahead To 2027

Returning to their traditional day after the All-Star Game release, Major League Baseball released their tentative 2027 earlier this week, one which hopefully will not be impacted by a prolonged work stoppage.  For the fifth year in a row, MLB is keeping with a balanced schedule, playing 52 games against division opponents, 64 games against non-division opponents in the same league, and 46 interleague games, with series against every team in the opposite league.  With both Chicago teams heading into the second half in line for a postseason appearance for the first time since 2008 and the All-Star Game coming to Wrigley Field in July, the 2027 season looks like it could be an interesting one on both sides of town.  So, for one day, at least, let’s turn our attention to next summer for both teams.

The White Sox open their season on the road in the Midwest on March 25, scheduled to be the earliest North American start in league history, facing the Tigers followed by a series against the Royals.  They open up their home schedule against the Brewers on April 1.

Aside from the Brewers, the interleague schedule sees the White Sox staying home to face the Marlins, Phillies, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, and Padres, while travelling to see the Pirates, Reds, Dodgers, Braves, Mets, Rockies, and Nationals.  The rivalry with their north side foes continues with a three-game weekend series at Wrigley Field coming out of the All-Star break in mid-July followed by three games at Rate Field the first weekend of August.

The White Sox wrap up the 2027 season in September at home, with a final series against the Tigers before ending the year with three against the Padres.

On the north side, the Cubs kick off their season at home against the Guardians and Cardinals before heading out on the road in early April.  Aside from the Guardians, the Cubs will host the Mariners, Orioles, Red Sox, and Royals while travelling to battle the Angels, Twins, A’s, Yankees, Blue Jays, and Tigers.

The Cubs open September with eleven straight against their NL Central rivals, but finish the month, and the season, on the road to face the Phillies and the Mets.

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Book 38 (of 52) – Desert Star

Desert Star – Michael Connelly

A year after quitting LAPD, Detective Renée Ballard was brought back to run a revamped cold case unit.  With a rag tag bunch of civilian volunteers, Ballard reaches out former detective Harry Bosch, using a case from his past as the bait.  Focusing on the death of a councilman’s sister as a teen, they get lucky with some DNA that would have been useless at the time, finding a match to another cold case.  Working the two, they are able to uncover a suspect, one close to their vest.  Meanwhile, Bosch works his own case, tracking his suspect down to Florida.

In the fifth entry of his Renée Ballard series, Desert Star, Michael Connelly continues to team her up with his old Harry Bosch character, first introduced in 1992’s The Black Echo.  At the end of this book, Connelly seems to indicate that Bosch is on his way out, but there is another entry in the Ballard series that he appears in and another mainline Bosch book due out later this year, so who knows what the future holds.  This book was the basis for the first season of the Ballard series on Amazon Prime, which I stopped watching after two episodes once I found out and will now pick back up.

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Fitbit 12 – Week 25

Another great week, pushing my 40,000-step streak to four weeks.  A long morning walk on Sunday started the week off on a high note, finishing with 7300 steps.  Monday dropped down a bit, falling just 3 steps away from 5700.  Tuesday was the low point of the week, coming in with 5000 steps.  Wednesday jumped up again, needing 36 steps to reach 6100.  A single step is all that stood between me and 6700 steps on Thursday.  A morning doctor’s appointment on Friday left me with exactly 5500 steps.  A trip to the Rate wrapped up the week on Saturday, finishing with 5900 steps.

Total steps: 42,256

Daily average: 6036.6

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2026 All Star Break Pitching Leaders

Now that the All-Star Game is behind us and we await tomorrow’s start of the second half of the season, with both the White Sox and the Cubs in contention for the post-season, let’s take a look at the first half leaders on the defensive side of the ball for the 24 games I’ve attended so far this season, beginning with everyone’s favorite pitching stat:

Wins

Name Total
Edward Cabrera 2
Anthony Kay 2
Davis Martin 2
18 tied with 1

Losses

Name Total
Sean Burke 2
22 tied with 1

ERA (> 6 IP)

Name Total
Kyle Harrison 0.00
Shota Imanaga  0.00
Grant Taylor 0.00
Holby Milner 0.00
Sean Newcomb 0.00

Strikeouts

Name Total
Sean Burke 22
Continue reading →
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2026 All Star Break Batting Leaders

With the All-Star Game in the books and a few days of rest before the unofficial second half kicks off, let’s take a look at the first half offensive leaders for the 24 games I’ve attended so far this season, starting with:
Home Runs

Name Total
Munetaka Murakami 5
Miguel Vargas 4
Colson Montgomery 4
Andrew Benintendi 3
Michael Conforto 3
Dansby Swanson 3
Ian Happ 3
Pete Crow-Armstrong 3
Tristan Peters 3

Hits

Name Total
Miguel Vargas 18
Chase Meidroth 15
Colson Montgomery 13
Ian Happ 13
Andrew Benintendi 13
Michael Busch 13

Runs

Name Total
Miguel Vargas 16
Ian Happ 12
Continue reading →
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2026 All Star Break Standings

As we reach the metaphorical, if not quite exact, midpoint of the 2026 baseball season, the Midsummer Classic lands in Philadelphia for the fifth time in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  If you would have told me back in April that not only would the White Sox head into the break with a winning record, but they would be tied for first place in the AL Central and that both Chicago teams are in position for a post-season appearance for the first time since 2008, I would have called you a crazy person.  Yet here we are.

As the stars of the baseball world gather at Citizens Bank Park for tonight’s showdown, it’s time to take a look at the team records for the 24 games, featuring 50% of the teams in the league, that I attended in the first half of the baseball season.

2026 Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Washington Nationals 2 0 1.000
Milwaukee Brewers 2 0 1.000
Los Angeles Dodgers 1 0 1.000
Chicago White Sox 10 6 0.625
Chicago Cubs 6 5 0.545
Seattle Mariners 1 1 0.500
Kansas City Royals 1 1 0.500
Sacramento Athletics 1 2 0.333
San Diego Padres 0 1 0.000
New York Mets 0 1 0.000
Minnesota Twins 0 1 0.000
Los Angeles Angels 0 1 0.000
Detroit Tigers 0 1 0.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 0 1 0.000
Toronto Blue Jays 0 3 0.000
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iTunes Top 200 Artists: #3

Music.  It is a powerful thing that brings people together, creates memories, and evokes emotions.  It is the universal language that speaks to the soul.  It forms the soundtrack of our lives.

It has now been five years since we last counted down the Top 200 artists in my iTunes library, featuring the songs I have listened to the most since 2007.  It is time to do so again, seeing which performers still resonate and if any newer ones have joined the fray.  So, without further ado, here are my most listened to artists, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2026.

Today, we have our final entry from a comedian with the artist I first “discovered” in 1989 with his role as Rufus in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure followed by an HBO comedy special the following year, George Carlin.

#3: George Carlin
iTunes stats: 2102 plays
Previous ranking: #3

A 22% increase for the 117 tracks from eight different albums leaves the comedy legend, who died in 2008 at the same position.  Averaging nearly 18 plays per routine, many of these tracks, mostly from 1992’s Jammin’ In New York and 2001’s Complaints and Grievances, are used as background noise as I try to fall asleep while away from home.  Like our previous comedian entries, I’ve enjoyed Carlin’s work in other mediums as well, whether it was television, movies, or the written word.  Sadly, I never got the opportunity to see him perform live.