Opening Day

 

Yesterday was Opening Day. None of my student's seem to care about baseball. Maybe if the team closest to them (The Texas Rangers) were any good...

It does seem that less and less kids care about Major League Baseball. My students and my own kids seem more interested in video games. Not saying there's anything necessarily wrong with that, just another generational difference. 

Anyway, time for my yearly prediction that has only come true twice in the last thirty-eight years:

The Royals will shock the world!

The Streets Are Burning

I don't know exactly what is going on in this viral video. Apparently this is in France in the city of Bordeaux. Many in France are protesting the government's attempt to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. But there have been a lot of protests the last few years and I guess the French are used to their streets burning.

To me, it seemed an apt metaphor to my school administration relaxing as our district burns. 

Classic Cars!

So I was browsing around on the internet looking for used cars when I stumbled upon this consignment dealership near DFW airport. My son and I decided to make a visit this past weekend. Gateway Classic Cars of Dallas is a pretty cool place. Hundreds of classic cars for sale in this giant warehouse. Granted, 99% of the cars were way out of our price range. But it was fun to look nonetheless and they were very friendly. Full discretion: we did make the visit to check out this 2002 T-Bird which I'm mulling over acquiring as my mid-life crisis vehicle.

 

Theme Time Radio

 

 

Last summer I somehow stumbled on the fact Bob Dylan had once hosted an hour long radio show on Sirius XM Radio...like fifteen years ago! How had that fact slipped past me? Well, anyway they have all 101 episodes archived online and it has become one of my regular listens. About once a week I play it in the car or while I'm washing dishes etc. It's a great show of widely varying styles of music. The songs stick to a particular theme each episode but range across all genres. Dylan plays the part of an old fashioned DJ, dispensing wisdom, philosophy and jokes between songs. It's a great show. I was late to the party but I'm glad I found it. Hopefully the archives will stay accessible for a long time.

Red Moon

I enjoyed Red Moon by Kim Stanley Robinson. I guess my only beef with it is that it ended to soon for my liking. I understand the artistic choice here by Robinson but I still feel the ending is too abrupt and I didn't feel enough resolution. It needs a sequel. I guess your goal is to leave them wanting more. Other than that it is a great read worth your time.

Live From Here Redux

 

It is super hard to believe that it has been three years since the pandemic forced the cancellation of Live From Here with Chris Thile. Three years! Life has raced by since the end of The Quarantine. 

Episodes have been archived on the show’s website for awhile now but there were a few months when they were inaccessible for some reason. It seemed as if this great show would be lost forever. 

But recently the archive became functional again. Once a week, my daughter and I have to drive into north Dallas. It’s usually an hour both ways to our destination due to traffic. This fit perfectly with the two hour runtime of the show. 

So, the last few drives I have listened to the show, beginning with Thile’s first episode as permanent host. I also found it shocking that it’s been nearly seven years since Thile’s version of the show premiered. Seven years! It just doesn’t seem possible. 

I have missed this show immensely. Especially in the fall. Even though the show ran through the spring it always seemed like a fall show. It was a rite of autumn, now gone. I will always cherish the memory of Thile actually playing me and my son’s Twitter request live on air. Weezer’s Buddy Holly in bluegrass. Also, seeing the show live in Austin was amazing. 

I’ve enjoyed listening to the first few episodes again. I plan on making this a ritual on our weekly drive to north Dallas. Helps with the stress of LBJ freeway traffic and construction. What a great show. 

It has also been interesting to trace the show’s evolution from when it started as Prairie Home Companion to Live from Here as Thile increasingly put his personal stamp on the show. 

Boiler Up!

Every Wednesday at our school is College Day and we are encouraged to wear college shirts. So I started collecting college shirts with which I have some tie...even a tenuous tie. OU, SMU, SNU, UMKC etc. 

Last week my son gave me a Purdue shirt because my Grandfather went there. This gift was great but a few days later Purdue distinguished itself by being just the second number one seed to lose to a sixteenth seed in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Great timing to unveil a new Purdue shirt.

But I wore it anyway today. More in memory of my Grandfather than anything else. Go Boilermakers!

Bring It

 This was the album I bought last week at Good Records. 1965's Bringing It All Back Home. I debated seriously between this and Highway 61 Revisited. Both are great.

Good Records

 Good Records, near White Rock Lake in Dallas, is another one of my favorite places. This was another place to stop last week during Spring Break. Now I just need to get my turntable hooked back up.

Put a pin in it.

My wife got me this Cross and Flame pin for my birthday. But she won’t let me wear it to our church who disaffiliates from the UMC this month.  

Back to It

This is how I felt this past weekend realizing it was time to go back to work. However, only 49 days left! 

A Good Burger

 

I had a nice hamburger from Shake Shack last week on my birthday. 

Let’s Go Fly a Kite

 

Some spring kite flying. 

Last Saturday of Spring Break

 

BG 1978

 

Last night I finally finished watching Battlestar Galactica, the 1978 original series. 

I have to admit, it doesn’t hold up as well as I remembered. When I was a kid I thought it was awesome. And there are a handful of pretty good episodes. The final episode of the series, which wasn’t intended as a finale as such, was nicely done. 

But overall, there are dropped story arcs, strange relationship trajectories, bad acting, cheesy plots etc. The Cylons are slow plodding adversaries. They don’t really inspire fear. 

I do like the ship design and sets. There was a lot of potential there. It was a fun dumb watch. I think I like Buck Rogers better. 

Backyard Drive-in

 

Last night we broke out the projector and watched a movie by the fire pit. It was cool but nice. A nice way to spend an evening on Spring Break.

Loans

I consider myself fairly progressive. Although I eschew labels as artificially confining I admittedly tend to lean on the liberal side of the political spectrum.

That being said, I know my feelings on student loan forgiveness might be unpopular with my leftist friends.  

It will take a lot of convincing arguments for you to convince me to support student loan forgiveness. Seriously, I like to think of myself as a rational person and I am open to rational argument. 

I do believe in student loan reform. I know first hand the problems and issues with predatory student loan programs. I can back reform. I'm not so sure I can back wholesale loan forgiveness. 

Because to me, loan forgiveness reeks of entitlement. People want the cake and they want to eat it too. 

I know there are individual cases where a tragedy has occurred in someone's life that cause hardship in repayment. Death of a partner, chronic illness, catastrophic accidents, cancer, divorce etc can all be circumstances where I think processes for easing student loan debt can be considered. 

But in the majority of loan cases I sense from the people I have spoken with...they simply don't want to pay them off. They want the big house and the new car and the exotic vacations now. I know so many people who complain of student loan burdens yet jet off on European vacations every year. I have also known people personally who are not of that group, people who are working hard and living frugally and the loan is a real struggle. But the majority seem to be of the entitled group.

There are plenty of loan forgiveness programs in existence. Teach at a Title One School. Work as a doctor in an under-served rural community. Work for a legal aid office in a low income neighborhood. There are dozens of opportunities to make a difference for the poor and under-served and at the same time getting your loan forgiven. 

Yeah, you might not be able to be a hedge fund manager and get your loan forgiven. You might need to help people first. You might not be able to open a concierge medical office until you pay off your loans.

One of my problems with student loan forgiveness is that no one forced you to take that loan. No one forced you to go to an expensive school. If you are lower income, grants and scholarships are widely available. Many top schools are now paying for a low income student's entire tuition. No one is forcing you to go to an Ivy League school.

There are many great options. State schools, community colleges and affordable private schools are everywhere. 

If you don't like the fact that some can afford those elite schools and other can't, then your problem is with capitalism and that is where our reform should be focused.

I went to a small private liberal arts college. I was lower income so I qualified for a lot of grants. But the school I freely chose was expensive. I took summer classes and night classes during high school through local junior colleges to get a lot of the basics out of the way. Dual Credit classes were not available.I took those JUCO courses to save money.

I still came out of college with around $27,000 in student loans. That would be around $51,000 today. I know that doesn't seem much compared to the triple digit loans I'm hearing about today. It just boggles my mind that people can get themselves in a situation where they are in triple digit debt!

I paid my student loans off in ten years. It wasn't fun. It was sometimes stressful. Granted I didn't have kids for most of that period. And I was lucky not to have a catastrophic illness or suffer through a divorce, etc.

But we lived in a modestly sized home. After three years we moved into another modestly sized home and have lived in that house for over 20 years. We didn't live extravagantly. We were teachers after all. But we still traveled. But we were careful with our budgets. We still enjoyed life. We even had a couple of new cars over the years.

When I decided to get a masters at an expensive school, I paid cash. I did odd jobs around the school to pay for it, like working the soccer game scoreboard or proctoring SAT exams. I graded AP exams in the summer. Nothing from my regular salary went to paying for my master's degree. I had promised my wife no loans. I had a kid at that point as well. And I was still a teacher. So I know it can be done. 

It's hard for me to feel sympathy for most of those seeking loan forgiveness. There are specific cases that I can get on board with. But I sense from my personal encounters that most just want an easy way out. They just don't want to be burdened with the responsibility. 

So yeah, convince me. I'm going to need some convincing. Because I work at a Title One School and have for over twenty years...and the irony is that my school's administration was so inept during my early career they never filled out the proper paperwork to be considered Title One by the Federal Government. By the time they got their act together, my loans had long been paid off.  

Let's not expect a free ride. To me it reeks of buying votes.

Kauffman is Beautiful

A while back the ownership of the Kansas City Royals announced that they were scouting out locations for a new downtown stadium. Of course this crushed me when I thought of all the great memories I've had at Kauffman Stadium. Not to mention that the stadium is still in great shape and one of the most beautiful in all of baseball. 

After awhile you come to terms with the inevitably of it all. And, I really like the downtown area and if a baseball stadium can continue to help in its revitalization then it can't be all bad to move.

But then you hear news like yesterday, that the Royals are considering sites north of the river, in Clay County. And then you realize it's all BS. And all the talk about the need for a new stadium is BS. And it's always been BS. And you always knew it was BS because you're not an idiot but you compartmentalize because it's the Royals. It's your childhood. It's Fred White and Denny Matthews calling games over your little transistor radio while your parents thought you were asleep in the summer nights. Or Gaylord Perry handing you a baseball before a game during his last season in baseball. Or George Brett, Jim Sundberg and Bud Black autographing a 1985 World Series Ball for you.

First things first, there's nothing wrong with Kauffman Stadium. It was completely renovated and refurbished just over a decade ago. This song and dance about how concrete stadiums don't age well is nonsense...just propaganda. There is nothing structurally unsound about The K. Any issue that does pop up could be fixed at a fraction of the cost of building brand new. This isn't Oakland. This stadium has been kept up very nicely.

Second, this is not about revitalizing downtown. If it was, then Clay County and the industrial wastelands of North Kansas City would be out of the picture. So don't act concerned with bringing about a renaissance in downtown. Royals ownership isn't doing this out of the goodness of their civic-minded hearts. 

This, of course, as everything always is, is about money. They, the ownership, want a stadium surrounded by an entertainment district that can bring in revenue all year long. They want restaurants, theaters, condos, apartments, shops and anything else that can bring John Sherman and his investors more money throughout the year. I bet they also invest heavily in parking garages. 

Cash. Trust me I understand that's what investors do. Sherman wants to maximize revenue. And sure, if that helped inject money in payroll for the team...get moving. I'm in.

But, the taxpayer always foots the bill no matter what their fancy power points promise. They've had the KC Star whipping up support for a downtown stadium for years. Don't believe the hype. It's all propaganda.

There is no reason to move the Royals from Kauffman. But I've pretty much been resigned to it for awhile now. I will miss the memories of all the games I saw with my parents there. The memories of going with friends over the years are to cherish forever. I will always remember Game Five of the '85 Playoffs with Danny Jackson pitching a complete game shutout against the Blue Jays. I'll remember taking my six year old son to Game Two of the 2015 world series and watching Johnny Cueto pitch a complete game shut out against DeGrom and the Mets. Youth nights, Boy Scout nights...tons of great memories.

And if they moved downtown I could probably get on board eventually. Downtown KC is a much more hopping place today than when I was a kid. I would love to see its renaissance continue. 

But if they move to North Kansas City across the river out of city limits? I might be done with the Royals for good. I will cherish the memories but I won't support such a blatant cash grab. It's hard enough to justify spending so much time, energy and money watching and supporting a game played by millionaires and owned by billionaires. That might be the kick that finally gets me out of my baseball habit for good.

 

Last Day of Normalcy

This photo was taken exactly three years ago on my birthday. This would be our last normal evening for awhile. For the very next day, Saturday, March 14, 2020 the world shut down (at least in our area of the world). Friday, March 13, 2020 was one of the rare times my birthday fell on a day that wasn't on Spring Break. Our Spring Break began the following Monday. So I had taken the day off. If I had known that it would be the last day of school for the rest of the school year I probably would have come in to work that day.

Instead I slept in a bit. Took the Jeep in for an oil change. Watched the news on the waiting area TV blaring warnings of rising covid cases. Went and had lunch with my daughter at her school. Picked up my son early from school since they were just watching movies on the last day before Spring Break. We drove to walmart and were stunned by the scene in the parking lot. Absolute chaos. The lot was jammed even more than normal. People running about with a crazed look in their eyes. We didn't go in. We bailed and drove across the street to Kroger. 

Not much better in Kroger which is usually considerably calmer than walmart. Twenty people in every checkout line. We bailed again. We had already stocked up on necessary supplies, including toilet paper. Everyone was desperate for toilet paper. So we left and went home and watched Batman Begins on DVD and relaxed as the world burned. 

That evening we were going to meet my family and my in-laws at my favorite pizza joint about a half mile from our house. They all bailed due to Covid fears, which I understood. But at the time I didn't truly grasp the enormity of what was happening. I had no idea that we were about to be placed in a months long quarantine. I had no idea the world was about to change forever.

So my wife and kids and I went to Eno's. It was eerily empty for a Friday night. The pizza was great as usual. We went home and played games. Little did we know that would be the last time we would actually eat a meal in a restaurant for months. 

Now, three years later that time seems strangely distant. We were almost quaint in our naiveté.
 

Apple Season Pass for MLS

I was not happy when it was announced that Major League Soccer was changing the way the league was broadcasting its season. I could always count on watching most, if not all, of FC Dallas's matches for free on Channel 21 in Dallas. No cable or satellite necessary. No subscription needed. Free. Free for all. Power to the masses.

So MLS launched a new and innovative partnership with Apple TV called Season Pass. Every match would now be available on any device without any blackouts. But some things bothered me...

1) It costs $100 a season to subscribe to Season Pass, unless you're already an Apple TV+ subscriber which knocks the price down to $79 a season. I'm not a subscriber to Apple TV (I'm already overloaded with streaming service subscriptions with HBO Max, Netflix, Disney Plus and Amazon Prime). It just didn't seem a good idea to grow your sport by making it inaccessible to millions of people. Free vs a subscription? No brainer.

2) Apple did away with local TV broadcast crews. FC Dallas had a great crew with Mark Followill and Steve Davis. That crew got split up. Apple did hire some broadcasters to serve regionally and Mark Followill will often continue to work FC Dallas games. But he will probably have to dial back some of the homerism and enthusiasm for the home squad which made his work so appealing and distinctive. Steve Davis will continue to analysis for FC Dallas radio but I really enjoyed the Followill-Davis partnership. That partnership is gone.

Well, like a sap I ponied up and subscribed to Season Pass. I've now watched FC Dallas's first two matches on the service and here are initial thoughts...

 

* It does look great. The app works on TVs, phones, and iPads very well. It's intuitive and the design is slick. It's easy to navigate the content.

* The picture is clear and HD. I'm not so sure it's that big of an upgrade from the old TV broadcasts. But the games do look nice. 

* There is a nice option to easily change over to the home radio broadcasters while you watch the game. However, as an FCD fan, I have to choose between Mark Followill as the TV announcer or Steve Davis on the radio broadcast. I wish I could have both at the same time. I haven't been impressed with the Apple game analysts so far although Followill is great as usual. 

* There is less FC Dallas oriented talk before or after the game. Apple focuses on the game as a national broadcast rather than a local match. So, we don't get post match interviews with Jesus Ferreira in the black Man of the Match cowboy hat. We get bland, generalized whip around talk for pregame and postgame shows. I'm here for FC Dallas. I want more talk of The Huntsmen and less about Vancouver or Miami. I can always find more nationally focused shows or content when I want. But local content is sparse in Dallas regarding FC Dallas. C'mon Apple, give us a FC Dallas specific show to click on!

* The studio shows are bland. I want Alexi Lalas and Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan in there stirring things up. Taylor Twellman is better in the booth than the studio. The other hosts are just boring and the commentary superficial.

Overall there's a lot of good about Season Pass but some fine tuning does need to happen. We will see how it evolves this first season.

Regardless, this is pretty obviously where sports broadcasting is heading. It makes too much sense to have all a league's content so centralized in a coherent form. It has been nice to have almost every KC Chiefs game broadcast here in Dallas recently. But that's only because of their recent success and having a Whitehouse, Texas guy as their quarterback. In years past it was often hard to find games. Games would often be cut off and moved to other games in case of a blowout. The start of games were often not shown due to finishing the earlier game. 

Some of my friends have firesticks and watch the NFL in a similar form as Apple Season Pass on NFL + and Redzone. But at least there are still free broadcasts of the NFL. My guess is that if Apple Season Pass is a success, the other sports leagues will follow and soon you will have to pay for all their content. 

It's the future and the future is coming now.

Spring (false?) Hopes

At the time of this writing (Tuesday 3/7/23) the Kansas City Royals are in first place in the Cactus League Spring Training standings. They are 10-2 and hitting the lights out of the ball.

I shall enjoy this while it lasts because projections for the Royals this year are pretty grim. Most computer models have the Royals finishing with around 90 losses and in last place in a weak division. 

But spring is a time of hope right? Spring training games don't really matter do they? Well, winning is always better than losing and I'll take it right now because when the real games start it might get pretty rough. 

I hope to catch the Royals at least once when they come through Arlington in April. I also hope to catch a game when I'm in KC this summer. Unfortunately there's only one game this summer that works with my KC schedule, a game against the Rockies. But I need to take advantage of any opportunity to catch a game in Kauffman since the Royals are looking to build a new stadium in a few years. 

17 Daves Ago

One of my favorite podcasts is The RobCast hosted by Rob Bell. Above is a photo I took when I saw him a year ago in Dallas. I always find Rob Bell's words encouraging. 

His most recent podcast episode, "That Was 13 Robs Ago," is a nice reminder not to be so hard on our past selves. We are constantly evolving as people and in many ways we are not the same people as we were a week ago, or months or years ago. 

It's healthy to look at our past selves and realize that we have grown since then. Often we have to forgive our past selves and cut them some slack. There other instances where we should embrace that past self as a product of that time, take joy in that past self of that time but realize we have indeed moved on. 

Like everyone I sometimes cringe at who I once was. I think about the things I've said, the beliefs I once held dear or the way I treated people and shudder. I've been blogging here for 17 years and I look back at some of my posts and go ugh! I definitely feel that way when I read some of what I wrote for my high school and college newspapers or old term papers. On the flip side there are times I read something and ask whatever happened to that guy? 

Bell suggests we get into the habit of saying "that was 7 or 12 or 20 me's ago." The number doesn't even really matter. He says have fun with it. Say it in an affectionate matter. Don't wallow in your past deeds. Recognize who you were once were. Acknowledge that you are a different person. That was you in a different context. Sometimes you made mistakes. Sometimes you did good things. 

But the important thing is not to be so hard on yourself for things you did in the past. Ask for forgiveness if necessary. Recapture good things you may have lost in time. But always keep in mind that was 17 Dave's ago. You are a different Dave (fill in the blank) now.

The Cross and The Flame

 

Our church officially dis-affiliates with the UMC at the end of this month. At that time all signage or items with the UMC Cross and Flame logo must go. The church can keep the hymnals. I find all this sad and tragic. And if there was another Wesleyan church near us that had a vibrant youth program we would probably try to find another congregation. 

But here's the thing about this so-called UMC split: is it really a split? I saw on the Wesleyan Covenant Association Website recently that 2,000 churches have already dis-affliated with the UMC and they expect about 2,000 more to go through the process by the end of the year. 

By the end of the year, by the WCA's projections, there will be 4,000 UMC congregations leaving the United Methodist Church. 

So I ask again...is that really a split?

The UMC has over 30,000 congregations in the United States. 4,000 churches would represent less than 13 percent of the UMC. 

4,000 churches leaving a denomination is a serious thing. No one wants to see that kind of division. But that's not that huge of a number in the long scheme of things. That's barely a split in my book. In my eyes a split is 50-50. I might give you 70-30. I might even say 20-25% leaving is a sizable split. But 13%? Debatable. This thing has been completely overblown by those seeking to leave.

And the so-called "Global" Methodist Church? They will be a pretty small denomination of 4,000 congregations. The GMC will be smaller than the denomination I grew up in, The Church of the Nazarene which has 5,155 congregations in the United States alone. 

Of course, number of congregations is one thing, actual numbers of people is a different data point altogether. I'd like to see the numbers of people leaving before declaring a split. 

It's all so sad and ridiculous. It's pretty obvious what this is all about. Politics, race and regionalism. 99% of the churches leaving the UMC are 97% white. The vast majority are in the south. Sure looks like a map of those who voted for Trump if you ask me.

 

KSR Again

 

I must admit that as soon as I was done with the last book I was reading I already had a Kim Stanley Robinson book picked out. I have a couple of his works on my tsundoku but I try to space (no pun intended) them out in my reading schedule. He is one of the most transformative influences on my thinking and I always feel my view of the world enhanced after reading one of his works. I still have a lot of his works to read and I'm guessing that when I exhaust those I will re-read many of them. I've already re-read "The Years of Rice and Salt."

Last night I picked up and started Red Moon, published in 2018. And after one page I was hooked and I felt my brain expanding. His works never cease to blow my mind.

Decemberists Deep Dive

 

After I went through the entire Wynton Marsalis discography I had decided to leap into the Joshua Redman catalog. But after three of his records I decided to pause. I needed something other than jazz for a minute. So I haphazardly put on the first Decemberists album and there and then decided to give all their work a go. 

I love The Decemberists. A friend told me me about them about 12 years ago. I was sorry to be late to their party because they are fantastic. They have become one of my favorite bands. They only have eight studio albums and I've listened to all of them many times, just not chronologically. It only took me a few days to go through all of them again in order and they are all great. Seriously, there is not a weak link in their catalog. 

If someone asked me to list my favorite I would have a difficult time because they're all so good and their style does change subtly and not so subtly over the two decades they've been releasing music into the world. They are consistent in their excellence. Seriously, just now I was going through their album tracks deciding which one or two albums I would put on the top of my list. And I just can't do it. They are all that good. I love them all.

The Letter of Marque

 

The Aubrey-Maturin Series is just greatness. Each volume continues from the last yet possesses its own distinct narrative. The Letter of Marque is perfect historical fiction that simply transports you to another era in such convincing terms. This is number 12 in the 20 volume series so I have a ways to go although I’ve picked up the pace in recent years. I already have the next two in the series on my nightstand. But I like to allow each one to breathe a bit before starting back in. I started in 2003, so it’s been a fun ride. 

The Powder Blues

 I am very happy that the Royals are bringing back the powder blue road unis this year. They look great and I'm happy they used George Brett in their announcement. George Brett has always been my favorite player of all time. But I do have to admit, I was shocked how old he looked in this photo. Means I'm getting old as well! But when I think of number 5, I still have him frozen in time at his peak in the early 80's.

Battlestar Galactica 1978

I've recently started re-watching Battlestar Galactica, the 1978 version. I didn't watch this when it first came out although I remember it being a big deal. I remember having a cardboard mock-up of the cockpit of a Colonial Viper that I got as a prize from a cereal box. I also recall my Dad saying Battlestar Galactica was a knock off of Star Wars.

The show only lasted one season although they made another attempt in 1980. But it played quite a bit in syndication. That's the context where I watched it. It would come on TV on Saturday or Sunday afternoons and I would catch it when I could. So I never watched the show linearly in episode order. And I never saw the pilot three part movie. But I really liked the show and it wasn't hard to keep up with the overall story since they ended every episode with the same epilogue.  

I never got into the SyFy reboot. I watched a few episodes and just couldn't get interested. But recently, as I get closer to turning 50, I began thinking of my childhood. And I saw Galactica was streaming free on the Tubi app. So, I decided to give it a whirl after all these years.

I'm now on episode 18...just seven episodes to go. 

Overall I've enjoyed the experience. Many of the special fx hold up nicely after 40 years. Some effects look ridiculous by today's standards, but most hold up surprisingly well. The show can be exceedingly cheesy even by 70's standards. And there are some strange continuity issues. Some characters and relationships fall off the map and are never pursued. Dynamics change quickly without a set-up. Sometimes the acting can be terrible. The Cylons aren't very terrifying.

But it is good fun. There's some interesting and exciting action. If you can wade through the corny parts you'll find it enjoyable.

Another W & P Update

Well, after the debacle of discovering I had been reading an abridged edition, I started War and Peace again. This time I went with the Maude translation. And yesterday I finished Book One which my Kindle tells me means I'm about 10% through. Still a long way to go...probably about 900 pages to go! But I will celebrate my achievement nonetheless. One hundred pages of Russian literature is nothing to dismiss. And I am actually enjoying the process now. Translation makes such a difference. Not only was the Kropotkin version an abridgement, it was far less readable than Tolstoy's approved translation by the Maudes. I'm actually reading more than the 2-5 pages a day I originally set out to read in my long-term fashion. Shouldn't surprise me too much, I really liked Anna Karenina and Tolstoy's short stories. He's an amazing author.

KC Blues

 

Ran across the photo on Facebook. The city is lit up in white and blue to celebrate the opening of the new KCI airport this week. They often light up the city for different occasions. Red for the Chiefs and so on. But blue, blue looks really good on this town. I hope the Royals can do something again someday soon to light up KC in such nice blues. 

The Egyptian Restaurant

 

 

We took the kids, the other day, to the original Campisi's Pizza joint over on Mockingbird. This is where all the Dallas mobsters ate. Sinatra supposedly ate here once. According to legend, Jack Ruby dined here the night before he shot Oswald. When the Campisi family moved in they couldn't afford to take down the original Egyptian Lounge sign of the place that used to be at the location. They did change the lounge lettering to "restaurant." It's been there since. It's a cool place. Very dark when you enter. This also the place where in the back room they gave SMU football players envelopes of cash in the 1980's.