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Book 51 (of 52) – The First Gentleman

The First Gentleman – Bill Clinton and James Patterson

When a couple starts investigating the First Gentleman for a book about his rumored past misdeeds, including a date rape in college and the disappearance of an ex-girlfriend, they quickly find that they may have bitten off more than they can chew.  As the bodies start to pile up, he goes on trial for murder, but the true killers may lie deeper within the White House than anyone imagined.

James Patterson and Bill Clinton return for their third collaboration, The First Gentleman.  This time, the focus is less on the president, who is trying to drum up support for historic legislation to reboot the government’s coffers, than her husband, who is being framed for crimes he did not commit.  We will probably never know how much (or little) Clinton contributes to these efforts, but I have yet to be disappointed by these collaborations.

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2025 Final Pitching Leaders

On Tuesday. we looked at the leaders in the 39 games I attended this year on the offensive side of the ball.  With the League Championship Series in full swing, it’s time to finish up our look back at the 2025 season with the pitching leaders, starting with everyone’s favorite pitching statistic:

Wins

Name Total
Davis Martin 5
Adrian Houser 3
Mike Vasil 2
Cam Booser 2
Sean Burke 2
Daniel Palencia 2
Matthew Boyd 2
Tanner Bibee 2

Losses

Name Total
Jordan Leasure 3
Sean Burke 2
Aaron Civale 2
Yoendrys Gómez 2
30 tied with 1

ERA (> 6 IP)

Name Total
Cade Horton 0.00
Bryce Elder 0.00
Brad Keller 0.00
Garrett Crochet 1.23
Daniel Palencia 1.35

Strikeouts

Name Total
Davis Martin 37
Sean Burke 34
Mike Vasil 24
Continue reading →
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Fitbit XI – Week 38

I extended my 30,000-step week streak to 22 weeks thanks in part to the NLDS coming to town.  Things got off to a good start on Sunday as I fell just a single step shy of 4300.  A nice improvement on Monday lifted me up to 4500 steps.  A small drop on Tuesday left me 41 steps away from 4200.  A post-work trip to Wrigley Field on Wednesday to see the Cubs battle the Brewers in Game 3 of the NLDS pushed me up to 6700 steps.  Thursday’s Game 4 came in around the same 6700 step mark.  Friday, boosted by the end of Thursday night’s activities after the stroke of midnight, managed to land at 4400 steps.  A relaxing day on Saturday wrapped up the week with 3100 steps.

Total steps: 33,947

Daily average: 4849.6

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Starting At The Top

Four years ago, the Purdue men’s basketball team reached #1 in the AP rankings for the first time in program history.  Over the past three seasons, the Boilermakers have spent at least one week each season at the top of the poll, leading all of college basketball with thirteen weeks total.  Yesterday, another first was achieved as the team was atop the first preseason poll for the first time in program history.  They’ve come close twice before, ranked #3 in 2023-24 heading into Zach Edey’s final season and #2 in 1987-88.

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2025 Final Batting Leaders

Another season of baseball season is in the books, with the White Sox disappointing their fans with their third straight 100-loss season while the Cubs failed to live up to expectations despite making it back to the postseason for the first time since 20200.  Let’s take a look back at the offensive leaders for the 39 games that I attended this season.

Home Runs

Name Total
Andrew Benintendi 6
Lenyn Sosa 6
Mike Tauchman 5
Colson Montgomery 5
Kyle Manzardo 4

Hits

Name Total
Lenyn Sosa 29
Andrew Benintendi 28
Chase Meidroth 26
Miguel Vargas 25
Luis Robert 19

Runs

Name Total
Chase Meidroth 18
Andrew Benintendi 16
Continue reading →
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Prolific Authors – Nine Books

It is time once again to take a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, I’m once again on pace to set a new record for books read in a year, so I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August of this year. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 114 books, so there should be some movement over the past two years.  Without further ado, it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much over the years.  We continue today with the four authors I’ve read nine times, three more than two years ago.

Michael Jan Friedman

Known primarily for licensed works, Friedman first entered my world in 1990, thanks to a trio of Star Trek: The Next Generation novels.  There were another two in 1992 and then he reappeared in 1996 with another trio of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman tie-ins.  That was it until he reappeared on my radar in 2021, with yet another Next Gen entry.

The Judge’s List – John Grisham

John Grisham

The former attorney, who I first read in 1993 with his smash hit The Firm, returned to my attention with The Exchange, a sequel 31-years in the making.

Mary Kubica

The local author, who is a New York Times best seller, moves up two slots and has placed nine entries on my bookshelf over the past ten years, starting with The Good Girl, which I read in 2015.

Scott Turow

The Chicago-based lawyer, who I first read in 1992 with Presumed Innocent and Burden of Proof, returned to my attention in 2021 after an eleven-year absence and has added three books in these past two years.

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2025 Final Standings

After fighting back of an 0-2 hole against the Brewers in the NLDS, the Cubs dropped the decisive Game 5 last night, bringing the 2025 Chicago baseball season to a close.  Despite blowing an early season lead in the NL Central, the Cubs held on to take the top Wild Card slot and managed to advance to the second round of the playoffs.  The White Sox managed to improve on their record-setting season from 2024 and managed to not be the worst team in MLB, but still managed to lose 100 games for the third straight year.  Overall, I managed to attend 39 games, tied for my thirteenth highest total.  Along the way, I managed to see 21 of the 30 teams.

2025 Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
St. Louis Cardinals 2 0 1.000
Toronto Blue Jays 2 0 1.000
Houston Astros 1 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 1 0 1.000
Chicago Cubs 8 2 0.800
Cleveland Guardians 3 2 0.600
Miami Marlins 1 1 0.500
Baltimore Orioles 1 1 0.500
Boston Red Sox 1 1 0.500
New York Yankees 1 1 0.500
Kansas City Royals 1 1 0.500
Chicago White Sox 15 18 0.455
Continue reading →
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Book 50 (of 52) – The Locked Ward

The Locked Ward – Sarah Pekkanen

Mandy, who took over the family bar after her parents’ deaths, has her world turned upside down when she finds out that 1) she has a twin sister named Georgia and 2) Georgia is locked in a psychiatric ward accused of murder.  Believing her newfound family is innocent, Mandy digs into Georgia’s life, looking for anything that might prove her innocence.  The closer she gets, however, the more her own life is in danger, leading to a final gambit that she hopes will save her sister’s life.

Sarah Pekkanen returns with her latest solo effort, The Locked Ward, her third straight outing without longtime collaborator Greer Hendricks.  She tells an intriguing tale with an unnecessary twist at the very end.  Despite that, this was another enjoyable read from her and I look forward to what she comes up with next.

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Book 49 (of 52) – Atmosphere

Atmosphere – Taylor Jenkins Reid

When Joan Goodwin leaves academia behind to try and become an astronaut, she expects that her life is going to change.  She had no idea to what degree, though, as she meets a fellow aspiring astronaut who she is drawn to, even if society, and NASA, are not ready to accept it.  Following her first trip into space, she takes over custody of her young niece and finally has everything she has ever wanted, but a shocking incident on the next shuttle flight puts everything at risk.

From April of 2022 through October of 2023, I devoured Taylor Jenkins Reid’s previous four novels.  She’s finally back with Atmosphere, which was released this summer.  This was a bit of a departure from her earlier works, which focused on famous people trying to work through life’s problems despite their social status.  In Atmosphere, while Joan Goodwin is certainly famous in certain circles as one of the first US women to go into space, her life is much more grounded.

Reid took a break following the publishing of Carrie Soto Is Back in 2022, so it may be a while before we hear from her again.  She does have four earlier works which I may try to dive into at some point, but those haven’t taken off like her later works.

 

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Fitbit XI – Week 37

I extended my 30,000-step week streak to 21 weeks thanks to some strong outings.  Things got off to a good start on Sunday as a morning walk around the block helped me finish with 5300 steps.  My first trip to the Salt Shed to see Garbage on Monday lifted me up to 6200 steps.  A big drop on Tuesday left me 34 steps away from 3600.  Wednesday saw a nice bounce back, falling just 26 steps shy of 4300.  Another drop on Thursday put me all the way back down to 3700 steps.  A walk to Walgreens to pick up a prescription on Friday left me just 24 steps shy of 6700.  A fall back to 3700 steps on Saturday wrapped up the week.

Total steps: 33,595

Daily average: 4799.3