Tag / Corona Virus

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15 Years Of Step Tracking

Fifteen years ago, I started a program through work that “encourages you to track your steps and help you to focus on your fitness in a simple and accessible way.”  They gave us a tracker, which attached to your shoe and used “an accelerometer to accurately calculate the number of steps, distance walked, calories burned and time of activity.”  I received that first tracker fifteen years ago today.  After a little more than three and a half years, the program shut down and I finished with a little more than 6.5 million steps.

That same week, I ordered my first Fitbit, looking to continue tracking my steps.  Which worked out well, at least until March of 2020 when a global pandemic caused the world to shut down for a year or so and for me to become a remote worker.

I crossed the 10 million step plateau in 2016, 15 million in 2018, 20 million in 2020, 25 million in 2023, and 30 million earlier this year.  To date, my total is 30,439,765 steps over 15 years, which averages out to a little over 2 million steps per year and 5600 steps per day.  In the early days, this was well above my goals, but I’ve been hoping for more for quite some time now.  I started looking to get 2,000,000 steps in those first few years, which I had a difficult time making.  As I moved over to the Fitbit from the Global Fit tracker, I started meeting those goals and, subsequently, increasing them each year.  These last six years have seen incredible backslides, but I’ve started to inch back upwards this year thanks to some weight loss and increased energy and stamina.

Along the way, I participated in some 5Ks, hiked up a mountain, traveled the world, and endured a global pandemic, racking up steps along the way.  Now that my world is opening back up again, here’s hoping the next 15 years are even better.

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Historic Games Part Four

Last summer, the White Sox fell victim to Clayton Kershaw’s 3000th career strikeout and I decided to take a look back at the historic games I’ve attended over the years.  Here is part four, featuring another six games where an individual hit a career plateau or a team clinched a pennant.

October 19, 2017 – Dodgers 11, Cubs 1

With a decisive Game 5 victory over the Cubs in the NLCS, the Dodgers win the NL Pennant, avenging their loss from the year prior.  Kiké Hernández became just the fourth Dodger to hit a post-season grand slam and Chris Taylor and Justin Turner were named co-MVPs for the NLCS.  It was the third straight year the NL champion was crowned at Wrigley Field.

June 18, 2019 – White Sox 3, Cubs 1

With a 1-2 pitch that caught Ivan Nova looking in the top of the third inning at Wrigley Field, Cole Hamels became just the tenth left-hander to notch 2500 career strikeouts and the 38th overall.  He finished the day with eight strikeouts over seven innings, getting a no-decision as the crosstown rivals proved victorious.

May 25, 2021 – White Sox 8, Cardinals 3

With a socially distanced crowd in attendance, Joe West worked the 5,376th regular-season game of his umpiring career, eclipsing Bill Klem’s record that stood for 80 years.  Working behind the plate, West’s feat became official after the top of the fifth inning with the White Sox out to an early lead and, following the fifth inning, he was greeted by the San Diego Chicken, who presented West with a bouquet of multi-colored roses.  West retired at the end of the year, ending his 43-year career with 5,460 games umpired.

August 16, 2021 – White Sox 5, A’s 2

In the top of the 8th inning with a full count, Craig Kimbrel enticed Matt Chapman to chase a slider that ended up three feet outside of the zone to record his 1,000th career strikeout.  He finished the night with 1,001 strikeouts, all coming in relief.

September 3, 2023 – Tigers 3, White Sox 2

In his 875th game, Tim Anderson led off against Tarik Skubal and the Tigers, lacing the first pitch into the gap in left center field for his 1000th career hit.  He became just the 1343rd player in MLB history to reach that milestone and was the fifth quickest in White Sox history, trailing Bibb Falk, Magglio Ordonez, Frank Thomas, and Jose Abreu.

June 3, 2026 – A’s 5, Cubs 4

In the fourth inning of last night’s game against the homeless Athletics, Ian Happ doubled for his 1000th career hit.  He is just the 37th player to have 1000 hits as a Cub and the 1415th player in MLB history to reach the plateau.

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Tired Discourse – Tipping

In January of 2025, the good folks at Defector.com published a list of 35 topics that have been discussed to within an inch of their life here on the internet.  Lucky for me, I haven’t publicly commented on most, if not all, of these topics, so I figured why not dip my toes into the fray on occasion.  We will continue today with the third question on their list:

Tipping

To start, here are two things that are absolutely true:

  1. If you can’t afford to tip, then you can’t afford to go out
  2. Tipping culture has gotten way out of control post-lockdown

Look, in a perfect world, servers would be paid a proper wage by their employers and tipping could then truly be reserved as a reward for excellent service.  We, however, do not live in a perfect world.  If you don’t want to tip, or can’t afford to tip, then the harsh reality is that you need to refrain from frequenting those establishments where tipping is legitimately required.  It isn’t fair to make some worker essentially pay to take care of you because you don’t think the social contract applies to you.

You’ll notice I said legitimately required, though.  Post-COVID, the number of POS systems explicitly asking for, if not totally expecting, a tip has exploded tenfold.  I am not the bad guy if I don’t add a tip my total at the local gyros shop.  If I go to a pizza place to pick up my own pie, you do not get a tip.  Handing me a pre-wrapped hot dog at a concession stand at the ballpark is also not a scenario where a tip is required.

What about tip percentages?  This is obviously going to vary by location.  The old standard of 15% doesn’t seem to cut it anymore, but 20% seems more than fair.  There are plenty of AI generated memes on the social media channels that will claim you should be giving upwards of 30% and some of the pre-programmed choices on these new POS systems do tend towards a higher payout, but that doesn’t mean you need to do it.

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And I Would Walk 30,000,000 More

Nearly fifteen years ago, I started participating in a step tracking program through work that ““encourages you to track your steps and help you to focus on your fitness in a simple and accessible way.”  That program, utilizing the GlobalFit tracker, ran through February of 2015, where I finished more than three and a half years in the program with over 6.5 million steps.

That same week, I ordered the first of multiple Fitbits I would wear, continuing the project for myself in hopes of getting into better shape and improving my health.  Things were going well enough until 2020, when a global pandemic transitioned me to a home-based worker and my daily activity took a big hit.  Thanks to some recent weight loss, I’ve started ramping things back up recently and, yesterday, I surpassed an overall total of 30 million steps.  That averages out to a little over 2 million steps per year, which, considering it has been seven years since I’ve surpassed that total, isn’t too shabby.  Here’s hoping it doesn’t take another fifteen years to get to 60 million.

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150 Years Of Cubs Baseball – First Basemen

Originally founded in 1869, the Chicago Cubs became a charter member of the National League in 1876.  Over the next 150 seasons, the Cubs have played more than 22,000 games, scored over 103,000 runs and recorded more than 200,000 hits, more than any other team in baseball history.  Nearly 2,300 players have worn a Cubs uniform, earning eight division titles, 17 NL pennants, and three World Series championships.

Fans have witnessed generations of unforgettable players, from historical heroes like Joe Tinker, Gabby Hartnett, Ernie Banks, and Billy Williams to more recent stars like Ryne Sandberg, Derrek Lee, Kerry Wood, and Anthony Rizzo.  The team has called Wrigley Field home for 110 of those 150 seasons.

To celebrate this milestone, the Cubs are holding a fan vote to select the franchise’s anniversary team.  Each week, we will go through the provided options for each position and declare who should, and, if different, who will, win the fan vote.  We continue today with the eight selections for first baseman.

Cap Anson was one of the first superstars of professional baseball.  He joined the Cubs franchise, then known as the White Stockings, in 1876, the first year of the new National League.  In addition to managing the team from 1879-1897, he was the NL batting champion in both 1881 and 1888 and led the league in RBI eight times between 1880 and 1891.  He helped the team to five pennants between 1880 and 1886.  He was posthumously elected to the Hall of Fame in 1939.

Bill Buckner joined the Cubs in 1977, moving to first base due to a staph infection in his ankle the previous year.  He would win the NL batting title in 1980 and be named to his lone All-Star team in 1981.  In 1982, he set the major league record for assists at first base with 159.  Following some late acquisitions in 1984, Buckner found himself the off man out and was traded at the end of May.  He is a member of the Cubs Hall of Fame.

Phil Cavarretta spent 20 seasons with the Cubs, making his debut in September of 1934, just two months past his 18thn birthday.  He was a four-time All Star and, in 1945, he won the NL batting title and the MVP award while leading the Cubs to the pennant, their last one for over 70 years.  In his final season with the Cubs, he set the modern franchise record by playing in his 1938th game.  All told, he would hit .317 in three World Series appearances for the Cubs.

Continue reading →

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Hanging Up His Platinum Glove

Former Cub Anthony Rizzo announced his retirement this morning after a fourteen-year career.  A three-time All Star, Rizzo spent ten seasons with the Cubs, ranking sixth in franchise history with 242 home runs.  He was also a four-time Gold Glove winner, winning Platinum Glove honors in 2016 as the league’s best defender.  In 2017, Rizzo was bestowed with the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award.

Rizzo, originally drafted by the Red Sox when Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer were in their front office, was the duo’s first big acquisition when they reunited in Chicago, acquiring him from the Padres.  Beginning the 2012 season in Triple A, he was recalled at the end of June and quickly became a mainstay of the lineup and a crowd favorite.  As the Cubs were rebuilding around him, he signed a long-term contract extension in 2013.  He cemented his position in Cubs lore by catching the final out of the 2016 World Series, ending the longest championship drought in American professional sports.  However, as the Cubs struggled to repeat the team success of that season, Rizzo also struggled in later years, contributing to an offense that has severely regressed since 2016 and was one of the Cubs who refused to get the COVID vaccine, keeping the team below the 85% threshold for the 2021 season.  At the trade deadline, he was traded to the Yankees.

After re-signing with the Yankees after the 2021 season, Rizzo spent three injury-marred seasons in New York, culminating in last fall’s World Series loss to the Dodgers.  A free agent following the season, he went unsigned and sat out the 2025 season prior to today’s announcement.  He will officially retire as a Cub and join the organization as a team ambassador.

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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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iTunes Top 200: #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 songs in my iTunes library, featuring he songs I have listened to the most since 2007.  It is time to do so again, seeing which older songs still resonate and if any newer ones have joined the fray.  So, without further ado, here are my most listened to songs, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2025.

We continue this week with the third most popular song in my collection, which became a sports staple in 1977 thanks to an organist on the south side of Chicago.

#3: Steam – Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye
iTunes stats: 215 plays, most recently on 10/16/2019
Previous ranking: #3

Originally written as a blues shuffle in the early 1960s, the song was recorded and released in 1969 by the then-fictitious band called Steam.  It reached #1 for two weeks in December, finishing as Billboard’s final multi-week number 1 hit of the 1960s.  The song got a second life in 1977, thanks to the South Side Hitmen and their organist, Nancy Faust.  With the White Sox hitting the cover off the ball and finding themselves in a surprising first place, Faust started playing the song after home runs.  Eventually, she also started playing it when the opposing pitcher was chased from the game.

The song became a hit once again, and Faust was awarded a RIAA gold record from Mercury Records to acknowledge her contributions.  It was a mainstay at Comiskey Park and its successors until Faust’s retirement in 2010.  Post-COVID, a recording of the song still makes the occasional appearance, though not as often as in Faust’s heyday.  The high play total is a result of the songs inclusion on every iteration of my White Sox victory playlists.

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Ballpark Tour: Padres

As pitchers and catchers start reporting across Arizona and Florida, we continue our tour of all of the baseball stadiums I’ve been to over the years. This week, we travel to southern California for the baseball homes of the San Diego Padres. Between the two stadiums that have been located in the paradise that is San Diego, I’ve seen four games. So, without further ado, let’s take a deeper look at my history with Qualcomm Stadium and PETCO Park.

Stadium Name: Jack Murphy Stadium/Qualcomm Stadium

Years in Service: 1969 – 2003

Visits: 1

San Diego Stadium opened on August 20, 1967, as the home of the AFL’s Chargers and opened for baseball the following spring for the final season of the minor league San Diego Padres.  The following season, San Diego’s expansion team, also named the Padres, moved in and stayed as the main tenants until the end of the 2003 season.  The stadium was renamed in 1980 for local sportswriter Jack Murphy, who had championed support for the building of the stadium, after he passed away.  That name stuck until 1997, when the naming rights were sold to technology company Qualcomm.

In 2003, I was in San Diego for what, to date, was my 3rd and final Comic Con.  On the afternoon of July 17, I skipped out on the con and took the trolley out to Mission Valley to take in the day’s contest between the Padres and the Diamondbacks.  I don’t remember much about the game, which the Diamondbacks won handedly 9-1, other than Curt Schilling taking the bump for the Dbacks.  The park, one of the last remaining cookie cutter stadiums that popped up in the late 60s and early 70s and designed to house both baseball and football teams while doing service to neither, did not really register one way or the other and holds no particular space in my memory.  I do seem to remember a giant outdoor escalator, but that might have been Candlestick.

Stadium Name: PETCO Park

Years in Service: 2004 – Present

Visits: 3

After 35 seasons at the Murph, the Padres moved downtown in 2004 with the opening of PETCO Park.  The new stadium was initially supposed to open for the 2002 season, but legal battles and political tomfoolery delayed the project for two years.  The first event held at PETCO Park was an NCAA invitational tournament hosted by San Diego State University, whose head coach was former Padres great Tony Gwynn.  The Padres themselves christened the stadium on April 8 with a 10-inning victory over the Giants.

With the Cubs, coming off their surprising run towards the NL title in 2003, scheduled for a weekend series at the newly opened PETCO Park in the middle of May in 2004, a trip out to the coast was in order.  The Cubs swept the three-game series against the Padres, and a tremendous weekend was had.  The new park was a vast improvement over the old Jack Murphy.  I had a return trip planned in the spring of 2020, but COVID had other plans.

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Fifty Years Of Music – 2020

Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth.  In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.

We continue our look back at the music of my lifetime with 2020, the year a global pandemic shut down the world in a way never seen before and that I celebrated my 46th birthday.  Only twelve of these songs remain familiar to me today, with half of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.

#67: Mariah Carey – All I Want for Christmas Is You
iTunes stats: 0 plays

Having spent three weeks at #1 to end 2019 and start 2020, it took fourteen years after its initial release to reach the top of the Hot 100.

#24: Cardi B featuring Megan Thee Stallion – WAP
iTunes stats: N/A

The lead single from the rapper’s sophomore effort, this ode to an aroused vagina spent two weeks atop the Hot 100.