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Book 47 (of 52) – My Friends

My Friends – Fredrik Backman

A chance encounter with the artist of her favorite painting just hours before his death sends a young woman on an adventure with one of his best friends, learning about the artist and his childhood friends and what led to the creation of the painting.  Along the way, they come to realize that while loss is part of life, you find people through the journey to fill in those spaces.

For the first time in two-plus years, Fredrik Backman crosses my path again with his latest offering, My Friends.  This is a tale of how like-minded people come together and how the moments of our childhood friendships can outshine the painful realities of real life for decades.  I really do need to dive into Backman’s back catalog one of these days, since I always enjoy his work when I read it.

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Fitbit XI – Week 35

A nice week, courtesy of the final home games of the 2025 White Sox season, which extended my 30,000-step week streak to 19 weeks.  Things got off to a decent start on Sunday, needing 14 additional steps to reach 4300.  Monday was in the same ballpark, finishing with 4200 steps.  A small increase on Tuesday put me at 4400 steps.  An afternoon off work to take in some baseball on Wednesday left me a single step shy of 5800.  Thursday was the low point of the week, needing 21 steps just to reach 3500.  A trip back to Rate Field and parking in an unfavorable lot pushed me up over 7000 steps on Friday.  Another trip to that same lot on Saturday, my final White Sox game of the year, ended the week with 6800 steps.

Total steps: 36,025

Daily average: 5146.4

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Keeping It 100

After dropping last night’s game to the Yankees 8-1, the White Sox notched their 100th loss of the season.  While this is only the seventh time in the 125-year history of the franchise that they have lost 100 games, it is the third consecutive season and the fourth in the last eight.  Over 50% of the franchise’s 100-loss seasons have come in the last decade under the stewardship of Jerry Reinsdorf.

While there are some glimmers of hope heading into 2026, there does not appear to be any urgency to improve this offseason.  GM Chris Getz has already indicated they are hoping that incremental improvements from the young nucleus will be enough to push this team back to the winning side of the ledger.  That plan, on its own, seems unlikely to get the job done, but what else can you expect from a franchise that strives for mediocrity?

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2025 New Fall Season – Thursdays

Thursday night was traditionally the busiest night of the week for my television viewing habits but has fallen off over the past couple of years.  This year is no exception.  Here’s what’s on the slate for this season.

7:00

9-1-1 – Returning for its ninth season, and its third on ABC, although without star Peter Krause.

8:00

9-1-1: Nashville – Another spinoff, moving the franchise to Tennessee.

9:00

Elsbeth – The The Good Wife spinoff returns for its third season, but I still have to watch the second one.

Grey’s Anatomy – The medical drama enters its 22nd season with the follow-up on last season’s explosion.

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2025 New Fall Season – Tuesdays

Continuing our look at the new fall season, here are the offerings that I may find myself interested in for Tuesdays.

7:00

Murder in a Small Town – A second season of the Canadian mystery-drama of the week featuring old favorites Kristin Kreuk.

8:00

Doc – A surprise hit last spring, Molly Parker returns for a second go-around.

9:00

High Potential – One of the only breakout hits of last season, Kaitlin Olson returns for a second season as an under-employed genius who consults with the police.

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2025 New Fall Season – Sundays

It is time once again to start our annual dive in to the new fall lineups for the upcoming television season.  As has become normal in the last couple of years, there is nothing interesting among the networks’ Sunday night offerings, which means I might have some time to work through some of the streaming shows I’ve let pile up.  Or work through the growing backlog on my DVR.

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Lonely At The Top

It took a while, but the Rockies finally won their 42nd game of the season last night, ensuring that the 2024 White Sox will continue to own the record for the most losses in a single season in the modern era of Major League Baseball.  Moving forward, I propose that MLB officially declare this day, the day the final team wins their 42nd game of the season, Jerry Reinsdorf day in honor of his not-so-glorious achievement.