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Fitbit XI – Week 32

My 30,000-step week streak barely reaches sixteen weeks, thanks to a night out at the ballpark.  Things got off to a slow start on Sunday as I gathered just 3400 steps.  A walk around the block on Monday left me 15 steps shy of 5400.  A small decrease on Tuesday again left me 15 steps away from 5000.  Wednesday saw a big drop-off, going down to 3800 steps.  Things fell even further on Thursday, dropping down to 3100 steps.  Watching the White Sox do battle against the Yankees on Friday turned out to be my high point of the week, finishing 8 steps short of 6900.  The week’s low point came on Saturday, ending the week just 12 steps shy of 3100.

Total steps: 30,705

Daily average: 4386.4

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Book 43 (of 52) – Witchcraft For Wayward Girls

Grady Jendrix – Witchcraft for Wayward Girls

In the late 1960s, unwed pregnant girls are sent to Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, hidden away until they give birth and are forced to give up their babies for adoption.  When four of the girls sneak out into the woods behind the home, they encounter a witch who promises to give them their life’s desire if they swear fealty to her.  When it comes time to pay up, however, they can’t live up to their commitments, causing the witch and her cover to go on the offensive.

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is the latest from Grady Hendrix.  He uses the trappings of the horror genre to look at the true horrors placed upon these girls prior to the passage of Roe v Wade, stripped of their ability to choose what happened to their baby and sent away from any and all support systems because of their so-called shame.  I look forward to seeing what he comes up with next.

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2025 College Football Kickoff

With a new coach and a revamped roster with nearly 60 transfers, the Purdue Boilermakers kick off their 2025 gridiron campaign today.  With Danny having graduated last spring-ish, I did not make it to any games last fall, so my games attended total remains at 32, 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 2 7 0.222
Indiana Hoosiers 0 3 0.000
Michigan Wolverines 0 1 0.000
Michigan State Spartans 0 1 0.000
Minnesota Golden Gophers 0 1 0.000
Florida Atlantic Owls 0 1 0.000
Northwestern Wildcats 0 3 0.000
Western Michigan Broncos 0 1 0.000
North Carolina State Wolfpack 0 1 0.000
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Looking Ahead To 2026

Eschewing their traditional day after the All-Star Game release, Major League Baseball released their tentative 2026 schedule on a random Tuesday at the end of August.  For the fourth 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 a young and improving White Sox team already looking ahead to next year and the Cubs trying to lock down a Wild Card spot, the 2026 season looks like it could be an interesting one for the city of Chicago.  So, for one day, at least, let’s turn our attention to next summer for both teams.

The White Sox open their season on March 26, the earliest North American start in league history, under the dome in Milwaukee against the Brewers, followed by a trip to South Beach to face the Marlins.  They open up their home schedule against the Blue Jays on April 2.

Aside from the Brewers and Marlins, the interleague schedule sees the White Sox going on the road to face the Phillies, Cardinals, Diamondbacks, and Padres, while the Pirates, Reds, Dodgers, Braves, Mets, Rockies, and Nationals make their way to Rate Field.  The rivalry with their north side foes continues with a three-game weekend series at home Wrigley Field in mid-May followed by a weekday series at Wrigley Field in mid-August.

The White Sox wrap up the 2026 season in September with series against the Twins, Guardians, and Tigers, should it matter.  The season ends at home with a three-game series against the Rockies.

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

Twelve of their 24 games in September are against their NL Central rivals, with six coming against the Brewers, which could make a difference should the Cubs find themselves in contention once again.  They end the year with a three-game road trip to Boston to face the Red Sox.

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Fitbit XI – Week 31

My 30,000-step week streak reaches fifteen weeks, the longest I’ve seen since before the COVID lockdowns of 2020.  Things got off to an ok start on Sunday, coming just 14 steps shy of 4200.  A walk around the block on Monday pushed me up to 5400 steps.  A small decrease on Tuesday left me with 4700 steps as we said goodbye to Michael before he left for school.  Another strong day on Wednesday was 22 steps away from 4600.  A big drop-off on Thursday left me an even 30 steps short of 4000.  Friday turned out to be my low point of the week, finishing with 3700 steps.  A return to Rate Field on Saturday finished up the week strong, coming just 6 steps shy of 5800.

Total steps: 32,424

Daily average: 4632

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Book 42 (of 52) – By A Spider’s Thread

By A Spider’s Thread – Laura Lippman

When a man’s wife and children go missing, he hires Tess Monaghan to find them and bring them home.  As she digs into his, and her, background, she finds that the wife he claims to know may not be who he thinks she is.  Can Tess track down the missing family, and the mysterious man accompanying them, before any more blood is shed?

Laura Lippman returns with By a Spider’s Thread, the eighth entry in her Tess Monaghan series.  Following the events of The Last Place, Tess once again finds herself single, though I assume that will be taken care of sooner rather than later.  She also finds herself facing her Jewish half more seriously than she has in the past, due to her Orthodox client.  I’ve got four more Tess novels to go, not to mention any other works in Lippman’s oeuvre, so there’s plenty for me to enjoy moving forward.

 

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Prolific Authors – Four 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 fourteen authors I’ve read two times, up four from two years ago.

Scott Adams

The now-cancelled creator of Dilbert, who can’t seem to help himself from spouting racist takes on Twitter, Adams used his famous character to write a number of humorous business books, the most recent of which I read in 2012.

Suzanne Collins

A return to the world of the Hunger Games brought Collins back to my reading list in 2024.

James Ellroy

The author of the L.A. Quartet, which I finished off with The Big Nowhere in 2014.

Gillian Flynn

The former Entertainment Weekly writer turned into one of my favorite authors, though she still hasn’t written a new full-length work since 2012’s Gone Girl.

The Book of Lost and Found – Lucy Foley

Lucy Foley

A recent favorite, Foley, a New York Times best seller, has shown up annually since 2021 until this year, although there are still five months to go.

Diana G. Gallagher

The author, who passed away in 2021, can credit the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for all four of her entries, the most recent of which I read in 2011.

Lee Goldberg

A writer for the Monk television series who went on to pen a series of tie-in novels about the show.

Megan Goldin

The former Reuters correspondent first appeared on my radar in 2021 with her debut, The Escape Room.

The Blue Hour – Paula Hawkins

Paula Hawkins

The best-selling author of The Girl on the Train, her latest novel was released last year and read in early 2025.

Greer Hendricks

After spending two decades as an editor at Simon & Schuster, she has teamed up with Sarah Pekkanen for four novels, which I’ve read one annually starting in 2020 until this year.

Grady Hendrix

Winner of a 2018 Bram Stoker Award, the horror novelist debuted on my reading list with The Final Girl Support Group in 2021.

Carrie Soto Is Back – Taylor Jenkins Reid

Taylor Jenkins-Reid

I first came her work thanks to her smash Daisy Jones & The Six.  Her latest is currently on my waitlist at the library, so she will continue to move up this list.

Minka Kent

Two new reads in 2024, The Stillwater Girls and Unmissing, push her up this list.

John Vornholt

Three fourths of his works that I’ve read come from the world of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

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It’s More Than Playoffs, It’s Playoffs Plus

Sitting six games behind the Brewers for the NL Central crown but holding a five and a half game lead for the first Wild Card slot, the Cubs sent out post-season invoices to their season ticket holders yesterday for the first time since 2023.  Thanks to a randomly selected combination assignment, I would end up with tickets to two games in each potential round.  I would maintain my normal seats through the NLCS but would end up relocated to the right field side should the team advance to the World Series.

Mixing things up a bit, the Cubs are also offering a three-year renewal which will guarantee some access to All-Star week activities in 2027.  For my package, that would include the Futures Game on Saturday and either the Home Run Derby or the All-Star Game itself.  Going the annual renewal route will give you the opportunity to purchase tickets to those events should any remain.

Barring a complete collapse over the next five weeks, the Cubs seem to be a lock to make the postseason.  Getting out of that Wild Card round, where they would face the Padres if the season ended today, might be more difficult.

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Book 41 (of 52) – Sunrise On The Reaping

Sunrise on the Reaping – Suzanne Collins

The second Quarter Quell, celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Hunger Games, is doubling the number of tributes sent from each district. Haymitch Abernathy, celebrating his sixteenth birthday, thinks he is safe from the reaping until he tries to save his girlfriend from the Peacekeepers after they killed the second boy tribute.  Brought into a conspiracy amongst some of the tributes and conspirators from the Capital, Haymitch tries to destroy the arena, but instead marks himself as trouble.  When he is unexpectedly crowned victor, he returns to District 12 to find his family dead in a fire and his girlfriend poisoned, leading him to isolate himself from his remaining friends and drowning his sorrows in drink.

Nearly 20 years since the initial publication of The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins returns with her latest, and I assume last, entry in the series, Sunrise on the Reaping.  Taking place 25 years prior to the events of the original book and 40 years after The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Collins ties together characters from both and puts them into position to be where we find them in the future.  This suffers from repetition and the table-setting being done to show how we get from here to the events of the original trilogy.  I can’t see a third trip back to the well, unless she introduces a whole new set of characters who don’t tie in to the originals, so I’m guessing this is the end of the line.