Kansas Day

Happy Kansas Day!

Unbelievable

Well, it finally happened. The Kansas City Chiefs will be playing in the Super Bowl. This will be the first time in my life that they finally broke through and made it to the Championship Game. KC had only made it to the AFC Championship three times during my lifetime. So, Chiefs fans are not used to this. Fifty years since the last time they appeared in the big game.

So many years of playoff disappointment. Leading the Colts 38-10 in the third quarter and still losing that game. Having a successful two-point conversion against the Steelers only to be called back for a bogus holding call which cost KC the game. Being up 21-0 to the Titans two years ago and losing 22-21. Finally getting home field advantage in '95 only to lose 10-7 to the Colts with KC's kicker missing three field goals. Losing to the Colts in the No Punt Game of 2003. And the worst of all...last year, leading the Patriots by 7. Dee Ford lines up six inches offsides which negates an interception of a Tom Brady pass which would have ended the game and sent last year's Chiefs to the Super Bowl.

And those are just the playoff disappointments.

There were many years of awful football in between. And some great regular season success. But even Joe Montana could not break through as the QB of the Chiefs.

But now, exhale, the Chiefs are in. And I've been nervous and skeptical all year. But now I'm all in. I'm laying it all out there. I started rooting for the Chiefs when I was five-years old when I moved to Kansas City. I went to my first game in Arrowhead in 1985 with my Dad. He and I sat through many a disappointment in front of the TV. Man, I wish my Dad was here to see this. He remembered Len Dawson and Super Bowl IV. But that was before I was born.

So I'm going to enjoy this. This is why staying loyal to one team is so rewarding. Those bandwagon fans can enjoy swapping teams year to year. But the joy runs deeper when you've rooted for a team through the ups and downs and they make it to the pinnacle. It's all gravy for me now. I want them to win badly. But I'm also just glad to be here as a fan!  

Thoughts on The Rise of Skywalker, Part Two

 

Another reminder of SPOILERS below...

I found The Rise of Skywalker highly entertaining. I walked out of the theater very satisfied. It wasn't perfect, I have my quibbles, but overall I thought it was a fitting way to end the Disney trilogy of Star Wars films. It was obviously a massive attempt at course correction. Throughout the movie there are pretty blatant signs of JJ Abrams distancing himself from the disastrous Last Jedi. The example I like most is when Rey attempts to throw Luke's (and Anakin's) old light saber into a burning TIE fighter. Luke, as a force ghost, catches the light saber and says "A Jedi's weapon deserves more respect." This was an obvious paean to Star Wars fans who felt disrespected by Luke's casual flinging away of that same light saber at the beginning of The Last Jedi. There are other little digs at TLJ throughout the movie. Each one gave me great satisfaction.

Some critics have dismissed such moves as mere fan service. That type of criticism is elitist and insulting. Who else should Star Wars be made but for the fans who have supported it for over 40 years? Be creative, subvert expectations all you want, but what's wrong with throwing in a Lando or Wedge here or there? "Fan service" is an artificial term created by non-Star Wars fans to insult those the movies are made for. 

One issue mentioned a lot is that the movie seems to pack a lot of narrative action in just two and half hours. Again, it's pretty obvious that Abrams had some vision of where he wanted this to go in TFA but found that vision destroyed in TLJ. He had to reroute some ideas and it's like he was burdened with cramming two Star Wars movies into one. The pace would have been considerably different if The Last Jedi had not gone off the rails. 

So yeah, I liked The Rise of Skywalker but...let's take a look at this whole thing from 30,000 feet. 

First of all, I'm amazed that Disney seemed to fly by the seat of their pants on these three movies. Allowing different directors to create their own visions created an inconsistency that will dilute this canon forever. You would think that Disney, possessing a property as financially valuable and culturally influential as Star Wars, would take greater care in having an overall plan for the three movies. But storylines were created and then abandoned at will. It's sloppy planning and it shows. That's what ticked off SW fans the most about TLJ, stories were started and then haphazardly thrown away. Movie goers often complain about studio influence in the creation of movies. But in this case, more studio influence may have been welcome.

My final question regarding these three movies, now that the saga is complete, is were they really necessary? Nothing strikingly new was offered. An orphaned teenager on a desert planet discovers a  connection to a mysterious life force that connects them to a larger universe. They shockingly discover they are related to one of the great evil figures in the galaxy and must confront them in order to save democracy. On the way, they confront a mysterious man, dressed in black, wearing a mask and carrying a red laser sword. They join up with a  pack of fast talking friends and robots and go on various adventures including destroying a planet-killing space station (and then planet-killing Star Destroyers). 

The over arching narrative is merely a copy of the original trilogy. The only thing this new trilogy accomplished was marketing even more merchandise for Disney and perhaps rekindling interest in various Star Wars spin-off projects. 

I hate to be that cynical of the overall project. I truly did enjoy The Rise of Skywalker. I liked much of The Force Awakens. Even the The Last Jedi had some nice bits here and there. But I can't help to think this was an opportunity lost. How much fun would it have been to see Luke, Leia and Han (and Chewie, R2, Threepio) all together again...at least for a little bit. The original characters could have easily been integrated with the introduction of new characters. Greater cohesion and planning could have made this work. But, we're all experts aren't we? I think JJ pulled off a near miracle in wrapping this up the way he did.

 

Thoughts on The Rise of Skywalker, Part One

I guess I shouldn't delay the inevitable expression of my thoughts on the (supposed) closing chapter of the Skywalker saga...Star Wars, The Rise of Skywalker. I've refrained from posting comments earlier for two reasons. I didn't want to divulge any spoilers and I needed to see the movie again and have some time to process.

So yes, there may be SPOILERS in this post. You've been forewarned.

First, like the yellow crawl before each Star Wars movie, let me provide some context. I loved the original trilogy, was disappointed by the prequels and was skeptical when a closing trilogy was announced. I thought The Force Awakens started well and then faltered in the second half as it pretty much mirrored the original A New Hope and Return of the Jedi with yet another attack on a planet killing base. But I gave TFA some room for doubt because I assumed it was a movie that was simply laying the foundations for a larger and greater story. I remember walking out of the theater on first viewing and thinking to myself that at least it was better than the prequels (although my estimation for Revenge of the Sith has only grown over the years).

Then, The Last Jedi screwed everything up. Trust me, I wanted a fresh and original story. But the execution of the new directions explored in TLJ was sloppy and amateurish. The casino side story was a narrative waste. The Holdo Maneuver was a cheap cop out. The Poe Mutiny was unnecessary. The throwing away of Admiral Akbar's character, unforgivable. Unfortunately any criticism of the Rose Tico character has been shielded with automatic responses that you must be racist if you didn't like her. Yes, there were terrible racist trolls who cyber-bullied Kelly Marie Tran on her instagram page. That is despicable behavior. But that shouldn't rule out legitimate criticism of a poorly conceived and executed character. I found Rose's sister a much more compelling figure in just the few seconds she had onscreen. Rose's character was introduced clumsily and even more clumsily forced into a romantic relationship with Finn when his feelings toward Rey had already been alluded to. It felt like forced inclusion of ethnic diversity rather than an organic relationship.

TLJ reeked with "look how clever I am" direction from Rian Johnson. Look, I'm going to take everything JJ set up in TFA and flush it down the toilet. The opening scene of Luke throwing his light saber away over his shoulder was a "screw you" to both JJ Abrams and Star Wars fans. All the Star Wars fans I know don't mind their expectations subverted if done in an entertaining way that's faithful to the character development previously established. TLJ was simply a hack job done in lazy fashion. I could go on and on about the deficiencies of TLJ, but this post was originally supposed to be about my thoughts on The Rise of Skywalker. So I'll end my TLJ rant there.

And with the fear that this post is getting too lengthy I'll post my detailed thoughts on TROS tomorrow. But suffice it to say. I left the theater both times I saw it satisfied. It was a very well done course correction...a massive attempt to fix what had been ruined in TLJ. But I have some overall thoughts about whether or not this new trilogy was necessary and other thoughts on TROS. More tomorrow.

HBDJDW

 We have a teenager in the house! 13! Happy Birthday, man!

Hot Chocolate Days

We had a good holiday season and a nice sabbatical from blogging. We were busy with all sorts of fun activities. Celebrated Christmas at home. Headed up to Indiana to celebrate some more. Made it back on New Years Eve. Still had a few days to rest and get reloaded. Today we're back at the grind. Got to make the most of it. Only 18 more weeks left in the school year!

During the break, my daughter decided to run a Hot Chocolate Stand in front of our house. She wanted all proceeds to go to the local animal shelter. She conceived and executed her vision with very little assistance from us. Her big brother did agree to help her run the stand. She made $21 in an hour! That was a much bigger take than I was expecting in that we live on a quiet street on a horse shoe road so we don't get much traffic. She was excited and they had a lot of fun.

HBD Dad

Well, today would have been my Dad's 69th birthday. I miss him every day. Literally every day. Yesterday I went to his grave site and shared a Mexican Coke (his favorite drink) with him. Happy Birthday, Dad.

Impeached

Impeached!

Big Sandy Returns!

Yesterday I ran into an old friend...Big Sandy! My beloved truck of 17 years and 175,000 miles was in the school parking lot for the first time this year after I sold her to a co-worker last May. She looked good. I'm glad she has a good home.

Seeing her actually made me regret seller her. I love my Jeep but Big Sandy was a beast. If my son was of driving age or if we had a bigger house with a bigger driveway I might have kept her. She was a loyal machine.

tamales

That time of year! Last Friday our school had their annual Adopt-A-Kid Christmas parties. Each class at the high school "adopts" a kindergartner in need and provides them presents for Christmas. We also eat. We eat a lot. And some years, if I'm lucky, one of my students brings homemade tamales. I love tamales and I don't get them very often. These were amazing.

Robot Madness!

Last Saturday, Jackson and his robotics team "The Banana Bots" competed at the North Texas FIRST LEGO League Regional Qualifier. The team programs robots to perform certain tasks in a certain time frame. There were dozens of teams there including two other teams from Jackson's school.

And they were named GRAND CHAMPIONS of the event! This qualifies them for the Regional Tournament in January. They were surprised when the team was announced as Grand Champions. It was a pretty exciting moment.

Winter Recital

My son, the maestro.

The Jackrabbit at Dusk

Grey and Blue

Blue making friends at the grocery store parking lot. Nice gray Rubicon with 32 inch tires. #jeepsparkedbyjeeps

Eno's for lunch

She's happy because we went to Eno's for lunch.

Mandolorian Arguments

Disabled Comments

photo: This meme I made a few weeks ago really has nothing to do with the subject of the post. Just a dumb joke that apparently I have to explain way too often therefore taking away from the legitimacy of the joke.

The other day I stumbled upon the very first post of this blog. Written in February of 2006 I invited readers to leave comments on my posts.

Back in the day when blogs first became a thing there was an idea that blogs, due to the fact they had a comments section, could democratize and perhaps "civilize" public discourse.

How naive we were back in those days. I remember reading the comments underneath news articles on my favorite news sites in the late 90's and being shocked how awful some people were in their comments. That was before I understood the concept of the internet troll. That was before I understood how internet anonymity emboldened people to say shockingly rude things to other people. Seems quaint now to see the best in people.

Now there's a mantra to people who post a lot on the internet..."Don't read the comments."

Several years ago I disabled comments on my blog. First of all, very few people actually read this blog and I rarely got comments. Discourse never really happened. Secondly, I began to get a lot of spam comments selling all sorts of things with links that I would never had recommended clicking. I actually only got one or two random troll comments in over a decade before I finally disabled the comment section. I honestly was more concerned with the spam and potential viruses that come along with the spam comments than any trolls.

Still, seeing my post asking for comments took me back for a few moments to a day when we actually thought civil discourse was possible in the blogosphere. What an optimistic time. However, I'm not going to enable comments.

Halfway

Well, I've finally reached the halfway point of my Ulysses Project. I've been reading two pages a day (sometimes more, sometimes less) since April and I calculate that I shall finish sometime by the end of May or early June 2020. Still not quite sure what it's all about but I will finish this thing!

Decemberists Live

I came across this Decemberist's concert the other day. I love this band. As a history teacher I really enjoy their use of obscure, regional history to tell long lost stories. They are not only great story tellers, they are great musicians. This concert took place in 2018 in St. Paul, Minnesota.

#hammertime

Happy Reformation Day! #hammertime

#jeepsparkedbyotherjeeps

Blue making friends in Rockwall. #jeepsparkedbyotherjeeps

Daddy-Daughter Dance 2019

Last Saturday night I got to go to my second Daddy-Daughter Dance sponsored by our school district. We had fun dressing up and going out to dinner. She wanted Whataburger. I tried to get her to go somewhere fancier, but she wanted Whataburger. We danced for an hour (she often abandoned me to dance with her group of friends in the middle of the dance floor but that was okay since I guess I need to get back in shape and was tired) and we were both worn out. So we left and went to Dairy Queen and had ice cream. A very nice night.

Expectations

The final trailer for the final episode of the Star Wars Skywalker Saga was released last night. To use James Joyce's terminology in Ulysses..."meh."

Ever since the disastrous Episode Eight: The Last Jedi, I've tried to keep my expectations low. This is a self-defense mechanism meant to protect me from further disappointment. As each Episode Nine (The Rise of Skywalker) trailer dropped I've tried to be Epictetus and just shrug it off. I mean, The Last Jedi was so awful it even brought down my estimation of Episode Seven: The Force Awakens.

My feelings about The Force Awakens were tenuous at best. The plot was derivative, a slick knock off of the original. How many giant space stations are out there in this Galaxy? A hero from a desert planet! Not to mention terrible acting from the guys who play Finn and Poe. And and and...dropping a potentially great story line about a Storm Trooper who in an act of conscience, joins the rebellion. They wasted a great opportunity for a very interesting story line even if the actor they chose can't deliver a line.

I satisfied myself that at least it was better than Episode One and Two and maybe, just maybe if I squinted hard enough, better than Revenge of the Sith. But Force Awakens got sucked into a black hole with the arrival of The Last Jedi. Everything associated with The Last Jedi has been tainted.

So, back to my original thought: keeping my expectations low for The Rise of Skywalker which comes out December 20th...

I can't do it. I can't keep my expectations low and here's why...unless this movie is a freaking cinematic masterpiece then continuing the Skywalker Saga was a complete waste of time. If it's an average movie, that still won't be enough to undo the damage of a mediocre Ep 7 and a terrible Ep 8. Only a movie of great brilliance can hope to possibly redeem the travesty of the Disney Star Wars movies.

I know those are unreal and unfair expectations. But I don't feel sorry for any of these guys. Disney's making billions. JJ Abrams is making millions. I will feel sorry for all the fans, past and future alike, who will have to come to the realization that this stuff is considered canon in the Star Wars universe even though it's mediocre at best and garbage at worst.

See, I can forgive George Lucas for the prequels. He's the creator. He has the right to screw it up. Maybe I shouldn't forgive him for selling out to Disney but that's a different story. These guys took something that wasn't theirs and screwed it up. They fumbled the ball. At least with the prequels it was George's ball to fumble.

You can still make good original Star Wars movies! Rogue One was excellent. Solo was great. It is possible to be original, creative and yet honor the spirit of the Saga. I've had several friends say that my views of the new movies are colored by nostalgia. I disagree. I know good stuff when I see it. That may sound delusional and narcissistic since art is subjective. But more and more of my fellow Star Wars fans are admitting how terrible The Last Jedi is and that The Force Awakens has not held up well in the intervening years. When it came out we were just excited to see the Millenium Falcon in action again and were relieved that the movie was better than The Phantom Menace. Now it seems kind of hokey and lazy.

So yeah, this Episode Nine better be good. It better be great. Otherwise this whole thing was an artistic and cultural mistake of unimaginable proportions. Yeah, I'm being unfair and hyperbolic. But I got a lot of emotional energy invested in this thing over a very long time, not to mention lots of cash spent on Star Wars paraphernalia. So I'm going to be a crank. And if this thing is great...then I will be the loudest voice in the choir singing its praises.

HBDWM

Another day, another blog post about a trumpet player. So it goes...

Today is Wynton Marsalis's birthday. He is the greatest living trumpet player in the world. He belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Jazz (my very subjective list: Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Marsalis).

The first time I heard of Marsalis is when my Grandmother gave me one of his early cassettes back in 1984 when I started playing the trumpet. She had seen him on PBS and he had just become the first person to win a Grammy in both Jazz and Classical music. That cassette tape was Hot House Flowers and it blew my fifth-grade mind.

I've seen Wynton Marsalis live only twice. Once in 1993 in the small auditorium at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas. I was in college playing trumpet in the jazz program at Southern Nazarene University and had driven up from Oklahoma to visit my parents in nearby McPherson, Kansas. They had gotten me tickets for my 20th birthday. The morning after the concert Marsalis taught a Masters Class in Jazz in the same auditorium. I got there an hour early so I could get a front row seat. I sat on the front row in the center and even got to ask Marsalis a question. He asked if I was a trumpet player. I answered back and then he answered my question. I will consider that a conversation! I had asked him his advice in increasing range.

The second time I saw Wynton Marsalis live was ten years later at the Lied Center at the University of Kansas in 2003. My wife had surprised me with tickets for my 30th birthday and we drove all the way up from to Texas to Lawrence, Kansas. We had seats on the front row. His Septet focused most of their evening on songs from their Majesty of the Blues album. And I remember thinking I had never seen a musician command the stage like Wynton Marsalis. It was fantastic. An unforgettable experience.

So Happy Birthday WM! Keep swingin'!

Grovey

Yesterday would have been Roy Hargrove's 50th birthday. He died last November. I blogged about his passing here. His passing hit me harder than most of the celebrities, artists or musicians you read about in the news. He was only three years older than me and he came to prominence while I was just starting college. I was playing trumpet in the jazz program at Southern Nazarene University and he was one of my trumpet idols. But he was different than most of my jazz heroes because he was so much closer to my age. Unfortunately I never got to see him play live.

So this morning I went to YouTube to watch one of my favorite live performances by The Roy Hargrove Quintet. His show at the New Morning Cafe in Paris, France was legendary. He played there many times but this appearance was back in 2010 before his health problems began to slow him down a bit. Unfortunately I was shocked to find that the video no longer exists on YouTube. It has been removed due to some copyright disagreement. The DVD of this concert is hard to find and the cheapest I could find a copy was $46. I knew I should have burned that YouTube performance before it was removed. Nothing good on YouTube sticks around forever. 

So, hopefully it will come back up someday. The world needs this kind of musical inspiration more than ever.

Creative Imaginings

Last night, my son went on a junior high band trip to the Meyerson Symphony Hall in downtown Dallas. They went to hear the Dallas Wind Symphony.

When I picked him up around 10:30 pm back at the high school he was visibly excited. He didn't stop talking about the concert experience the entire way home.

It warmed my heart to see his enthusiasm for music played extraordinarily well in an extraordinary venue.

Seeing great art performed by great artists can transport us to a different world. Witnessing creative genius can temporarily take us out of our sometimes dreary landscape and show us horizons of vibrant intensity. We grow and become different people when we see such creative imaginings.

I was happy to see that last night his world enlarged a bit. We've taken our son to the opera, concerts, art galleries, etc. But last night reminded me how important these experiences are to the development of our son and my daughter and that we must pursue them on a regular basis.

Fall Break

Nice four day weekend. Friday we drove up to Tulsa. Our daughter's big birthday present was my wife taking her to see her favorite singer, Lauren Daigle, in concert. Going to Tulsa also gave us a chance to see my Grandparents, Aunt and cousins. It was a nice smooth trip.

Yesterday (Monday) was Fair Day. We made our annual trek to the State Fair of Texas. I always love going to the Fair although we are always worn out by day's end. My tracker recorded over 13,000 steps. Someday, I'd like to just hang out in some shady cool place and people watch. There are so many strange people who make their way to the fair.

 We stopped at the Paris, Texas Eiffel Tower on the way back from Tulsa

The famous World of Birds show made its return after a five year hiatus and that was a highlight. Jackson and Ava got to sit in some fancy cars at the car show. We got to ride a few rides and play some Midway games. The Dog Stunt Show is always fun. We didn't make it to the Livestock Exhibits. And we always leave by 4 pm. We have never been to the fair at night. I can imagine that's a whole different experience.

Game Five, 1985

YouTube will sometimes throw out random suggestions for you based on your viewing history. Sometimes their suggestions are out of left field, others right on the mark.

This suggestion came up and immediately caught my eye. Game Five of the 1985 American League Championship Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Kansas City Royals. It caught my eye not only because it involved the Royals, it caught my eye because I was there, in person with my Dad, for the game.

I have never seen a re-broadcast of this game. I didn't even think to look for this game on tape. Of course it was on YouTube.

On October 13th, 1985, on a cloudy yet pleasant Sunday afternoon, my Dad took me to see the Royals in the playoffs. This was a huge deal for me. I was only twelve years old and the playoff format was much simpler at the time. There was no wild card game or divisional series. Only two teams from each league made "The Playoffs." The American League East winner vs the American League West winner and the same for the National League. Four teams total.

My Dad had scored tickets from one of my wife's bosses who had season tickets to the Royals. Season ticket holders had been given a certain allotment of tickets and they had two extra. So, after church on Sunday morning, we ate lunch and headed out to what was then called Royals Stadium. It was super exciting for me and my Dad. We sat in the upper deck along the first base line. There are no bad seats in that stadium and we had a great view.

I remember thinking the crowd was different than other Royals games I had attended. We went to a lot of games because my Mom's boss often gave us left over season tickets. This upper deck crowd was different than the normal crowd, more upper crust. I could sense that as a 7th grader. I remember one guy, dressed in a sports jacket and button down shirt watching an NFL game on his tiny portable black and white TV just a few rows over from us. Those little TV's were expensive back then. I also remember thinking this game must not be all that big of a deal to that guy if he was watching a game that didn't involve the Chiefs (who stunk that year anyway).

The Royals had dug them selves out of 2-0 hole in the series and now it was tied up 2-2. It was essential they win this one before heading back to Toronto. This was the first year the ALCS had been expanded to seven games and the format was 2-3-2. The Blue Jays had home field advantage so KC needed a win.

Young twenty-three year old Danny Jackson pitched a gem: a 2-0 complete game shutout. I don't remember too many of the details of the actual game. I remember Lonnie Smith stealing third and then Brett getting him in on a sacrifice. I remember Balboni hustling his heart out to second when George Bell threw the ball to third trying to get Frank White out. Balboni couldn't run and that was amazing base running.

I remember having a great time with my Dad on a day that was intermittently cloudy and sunny on a fine October day in Kansas City. I remember buying a pennant and a program which I still have. Of course KC would win the ALCS and go on to win the World Series in dramatic fashion. Thirty years later I took my son to Game Two of the 2015 World Series.

I'm thankful to whoever posted this video. It's been fun watching this game and knowing that my Dad and I are there up in the upper deck on the first base side about even with the base. What a great day.

Terra Cotta

Here's another slick video on YouTube that I sometimes like to show to my classes. It focuses on the discovery of the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi, the first emperor of China. The accidental discovery of the terra cotta warriors that guard the tomb in 1974 is the greatest archaeological discovery of my lifetime. This is an amazing story.

Blue Reflections

Blue likes to look at himself in the reflection of the back door of buses. I'm worried he might be a bit narcissistic.

Alongside

A younger girl fell on the release of the mass of Kaufman Bleacher Creatures before the Homecoming Football Game. Ava stayed behind and helped her get up. Then she ran alongside the girl the entire length of the football field to make sure the girl was okay. Very proud of my daughter!

50

Abbey Road by the Beatles is 50 years old today. This is my favorite album by The Beatles. The first time I heard it was the day I took the ACT test as a senior in high school. We had to drive an hour to Emporia State University to take the exam. After the exam my Dad took me to a record store in town and told me I could buy a cassette. He recommended Abbey Road since I had been getting into The Beatles due to a guitars class I was taking that year in high school.

I still remember putting that tape in the tape deck of our 1979 AMC Concord, rolling with the windows down since the A/C didn't work, and Here Comes the Sun starts playing. What I didn't know then was that the cassette had the first song on the A side and the B sides swapped from the original album order. Come Together should have been track one and Here Comes the Sun the first track on the B side. On the cassette those two songs were switched with one another.

That cassette became one of my favorite listens. Here Comes the Sun became one of my favorite songs. I remember making that trip from Emporia to Severy, Kansas for trumpet lessons many times and listening to that record with the wind blowing through the car. Years later my Dad sent me a postcard with the Abbey Road album cover on it. I just found that postcard recently and I treasure it.

This past July my son and I found an original vinyl pressing of Abbey Road at a second hand bookstore. I assumed the record was just a re-print. But after researching the printing number and cover label I realized we had lucked into a 1969 copy of Abbey Road LP.

I love this album. Although Let it Be would be the last Beatles album released, Abbey Road was the last record the group actually recorded. And what a way to end a band's run.

First Day of Fall

I used to not pay attention to the "official" change of seasons. Honestly, in Texas, you really can't tell much of a difference in the seasons. The Fall season is pretty short in Texas. I have to admit I miss the four distinct seasons that you experience when growing up in Kansas. Fall meant leaves changing colors, then falling off the trees and lots of raking. It meant college football season and OU playing Nebraska for the Big Eight Championship during Thanksgiving Weekend. Temperatures got cooler and you could feel a chill in the air. Jacket season. The days grow shorter, the time change at first is a welcome change in the routine.

Texas does have a fall season. It comes suddenly. One day it's hot then a cold front rolls in and suddenly it's fall. Fall in Texas means The State Fair of Texas which starts this weekend. However, it's usually still pretty hot when we go to the Fair. OU-Texas is now the only real fall rivalry game for Sooner fans (sorry OSU fans). My favorite radio show Live From Here (once known as Prairie Home Companion) starts back up in the fall, although now I usually watch the live stream of the show on YouTube rather than merely listen to it on the old radio. But the show has become a harbinger of the Autumnal season for me.

We are lucky, in Texas, when we get a real change in the color of our leaves. It does happen some years. Then they usually all fall in one weekend when a brisk wind blows through. I now have my son to help me rake. Hoping my daughter joins in the raking fun this year. There's something satisfying being in the cool air, raking those leaves into nice big piles, seeing actual progress in your task.

As I've gotten older and lost more and more of my loved ones I've been more intentional in trying to be mindful of the little joys of life. The arrival of Autumn has become one of the little sources of joy. Ritual is important and the arrival of the Fall Season is a nice little ritual to celebrate.

Memories

Me, My Dad and My Son at the Ballpark in Arlington in 2014, watching Texas play the visiting Royals. It would be the last game we got to see together before my Dad died of cancer.

The last days of The Ballpark in Arlington are upon us. I refuse to provide free advertisement for the insurance company that currently has naming rights for the Texas Ranger's baseball stadium.

I'm a Royals fan so my best memories of baseball are in Kauffman Stadium. But I've lived in the DFW area for over twenty years now and made annual trips to the Ranger's ballpark. Usually I was going to see the Rangers play the visiting Royals whenever they swung by town.

Even though I'm not a Rangers fan, I'm still ticked off that they are moving across the parking lot to a new stadium at the end of this season. The Ballpark in Arlington is only 26 years old. It's in great shape. It has all the modern conveniences and luxury boxes. Location is not an issue especially since the new stadium is literally right across the street.

So what's the problem? Climate control. The new stadium will have a retractable roof. It gets hot in Texas in July and August. Really hot. There were always a lot of empty seats during day games in the middle of the summer. Casual fans didn't like the heat. Ranger owners are convinced that attendance will grow if the casual fans are more comfortable during the hot summer months.

Whatever.

The reason for empty seats? Crappy baseball year in and year out. When the Rangers went to back to back World Series in '10 and '11 the place was full, even in the unbearable heat of August. Another problem? They made the old stadium too big. The new place will be much more intimate. They are cutting the seats by 10,000. Creates demand, supposedly.

Sure the Ballpark can get hot. I almost got heat stroke in the place multiple times. But we found ways to stay cool and we always had a great time.

Not only is this environmentally irresponsible, abandoning a recent construction, it's a theft of memories.

Baseball, more than any other game, is about generational bonds. Statistics in baseball are more scrutinized than any other sport because you can make cross-generational comparisons in a much more consistent way than most sports. Yes, the sport has changed dramatically over the years. But still, Babe Ruth's 60 home runs is an impressive feat today, even with the steroid era messing things up. Baseball is about long term connections over a very long time.

And the Texas Rangers are taking away a place where many memories were made, simply for the convenience of the casual fan. The original Arlington Stadium needed to be replaced. It wasn't originally built for major league baseball. It was obsolete and in bad shape. This Ballpark is still beautiful and in great shape. It has all the modern amenities. It is a modern ballpark that they are tearing down (well, not completely...apparently they are transforming it into a smaller venue for XFL games and concerts) after only 26 years.

This was the place I brought my son to see his very first Major League Baseball game. It was the place where my son and I got to watch a baseball game with my Dad for the last time before he died of cancer in 2014. Those are the two most poignant memories but there are dozens of wonderful memories that the Rangers are desecrating in the name of the almighty dollar. I will no longer be able to enjoy a game with my family at this stadium where so many memories happened because Ranger ownership thought they could squeeze their fans for more dollars.

If they cared about the fans, they would build a winning team. You have a winning team, the crowds will come. That's how it works. Don't let the rich white billionaires convince you otherwise. They just want to make money. Winning is incidental. Fans are incidental. Generational memories are incidental. 
 

Helpless and fearful people...

"Helpless and fearful people are drawn to magical figures, mythic figures, epic men who intimidate and darkly loom."

Came across that line in Don Delillo's White Noise. Written in 1985 yet appropriate for Trump supporters in 2019.

Experimenting with Chrome blogging

So I’m home with a sick kid. She’s fine. Went to the doctor. Just a viral thing. Anyway, decided to try blogging via my iPad. Haven’t mobile blogged since google made the terrible and stupid decision to eliminate the blogger app for both IOS and Android. That was a really dumb and annoying decision by Google. Anyway, I’m blogging via the Chrome browser to see if that’s an option. So, I’m going to post a random pic from my iPad along with this post and see how it goes. First pic on my roll was a screen shot of a doorway in Paris off of Google Earth.

Toulouse

A year ago today I was in Paris.

That was an amazing trip and I wish I was there today.

We were fortunate in many ways. We were able to climb to the top of the Cathedral of Notre Dame and see the roof and spire close up. Seven months later the roof and spire would be lost in a tragic fire.

A couple of months after our trip large and sometimes violent protests shut down much of central Paris. The Arc de Triomphe was marked with graffiti. The Champ Elysee was closed.

This week a transit strike has caused gridlock in central Paris.

All was peaceful while we were there. We enjoyed our trip immensely.

So last Saturday night I took my wife to a local French cafe on Knox Street in Dallas. This was our first visit to the Toulouse Cafe and it was fantastic. It truly looked and felt like a Parisian cafe. The food was amazing. It was a nice way to remember Paris.

Laughing

"He laughed to free his mind from his mind's bondage."

  - From Ulysses by James Joyce

TechApathy

How soon we become spoiled and accustomed to the technological luxuries of our life. Yesterday I was issued a new (or newer) iPad by my school district. This is my third iPad since being issued my first one ten years ago. I had asked for a new device since mine was showing its age. It was flaking out and shutting down apps more and more often. It's browser was running slow and becoming frustrating to use. The district had said they would get me a new one but it may take a few weeks. But one suddenly became available yesterday and they actually delivered it to my classroom.

Yes, I was happy to get a new iPad. But I started thinking about how excited we were ten years ago when we first got them. It was a super big deal. Ten years ago the iPad was a curiosity. Back then we were impressed with the simple act of the screen rotating from vertical to horizontal when turning the device. Simpler times. A few of my colleagues at other schools or friends had gotten them and they looked pretty cool. I wanted one. I wanted one bad.

So I was excited when our school district said they would be issuing iPads to teachers. But there was a catch. Teachers would have to write an essay saying how they would use the device in their classroom and why they should be issued one. Looking back now, it was pretty condescending. They had plenty of iPads to go around due to a grant. But they treated us like children and made us work for it. The administrators running the show back then are long gone and good riddance.

Well, we wrote our essays and everyone got iPads who wanted one. The essays were a joke.

The iPad did change a lot of my habits. It became my primary device for accessing the internet rather than using a laptop or my phone. I used an iPad app (Evernote) to take notes in graduate school and to file all sorts of things. Again, I found it much easier to take notes than writing or even using my computer. I sometimes use the iPad for reading on the Kindle App. And I watch a lot of programs on the YouTube, Netflix and Amazon Prime apps via the iPad. I use the iPad pretty much every day. It organizes my calendar, to-do lists, and emails.

But, yesterday, when I got the new (newish) one, an iPad Air, I wasn't quite as excited as ten years ago. In fact, I knew that I would have to spend some time setting it up and I wasn't looking forward to that. Having to log in to every app again and syncing iCloud, etc is a tedious exercise. How soon we become jaded.

This is my third iPad in ten years. Getting spoiled. Free iPads? How can I complain? And I admit, that after I got everything set up I was impressed with its processor speed, crystal clear screen resolution, improved graphics (since my last iPad had not been compatible with the last several updates) and light weight. It made realize how slow and out dated my old iPad had become. My old iPad had become ancient in just five years.

I hate how reliant I've become on technology. I also hate losing the wow factor when given a pretty sophisticated device. This thing would blow my 2009 mind!

Shakespeare and Co.

Ah, I get it now. How the famous bookstore got its name and why James Joyce hung out there so much. And why they have a few Joyce photos on the walls. It's in Ulysses of course.

NOOOO!!!!

Son takes photo of Dad right when CBS broadcast of Chiefs game is interrupted with 5 minutes left due to technical difficulties and network switches to Cleveland-Tennessee game.

The Ulysess Project

Yes, I'm still reading James Joyce's Ulysses. As I mentioned here, I'm still following my planned reading of two pages a day. Originally I was going to be done sometime in April 2020. But I didn't really read my daily two pages much during the summer. So I'm a bit behind schedule, which is not all that unexpected. But today I did make it to page 200. I consider that an achievement worth noting! Only 583 pages left to go!

The writing is still very obscure. It's hard to slog through sometimes. I have been using some online guides to help me along. Because sometimes I have no idea what I'm reading.

One observation of note. This week I came across the word "meh" in Joyce's text. It was also used in the proper context...a statement of apathy. I always believed that meh was invented by The Simpsons. Nope, page 171 of the Complete and Unabridged Text, reset in 1961 of Ulysses.

J and J

Jackson made his debut with his Junior High tennis team last night. He played a doubles match with his old friend, Jackson as his partner. Having two Jacksons playing together might make for some cool team names. Jackson Squared. J&J, etc. Jackson and Jackson are both 7th graders and defeated a team of 8th graders from Corsicana. There are only three 7th graders on the team and it was a nice debut.

#JeepsparkedbyJeeps

When you buy a Jeep you quickly notice other Jeep owners waving at you on the road. This is called the Jeep Wave. You also notice other Jeeps will magically appear by your Jeep in the parking lot. Here's a series of photos in recent weeks of Jeeps that either parked by Blue...or Jeeps I parked by just to keep the tradition going.

To See The World...

Blue

 

Me and Blue stopping at our local Taco Casa after our KC-Tulsa-Dallas Trip. 

One last post about the summer of 2019. Maybe.

When I bought my Jeep in April I have to admit I was a bit nervous about how it would do on long trips halfway across the country. Would there be enough storage space for a family of four's gear? How it would handle bad weather? Would I be blown all over the road in high winds? Would the three-piece hard top leak in rainy conditions. Would I regret making this purchase?

The answer is absolutely no...I do not regret buying the Jeep. It handled long distance travel fantastically. I ran into some high winds and it was fine. I drove through some torrential downpours driving both on my way to Kansas City from Indiana and on our drive to Florida. No leaks. In city driving the Jeep handles more nimbly than any other car I've owned except our Mini Cooper. On highways the Jeep is solid and dependable.

So yes, Me and the Jeep bonded over our summer travels. He finally got a name...Blue. Blue because of the color and also reminiscent of Blue the Raptor in Jurassic World. Blue is still young. We just crossed 10,000 miles. Nothing has gone haywire yet. I do have a recall to take care of soon. And if once the miles add up and problems start popping up then I might sing a different tune. But for now, Blue has been a great traveling vehicle.