Mark e-mailed me to let me know the comments weren't working right in the new format and sure enough, they weren't. I tinkered endlessly and still cannot get them to work in the style they were so I went with a popup box for comments. I don't like it but I like using my time to figure it out even less.
I also made pages for my 2009 and 2008 reading lists. They are in the Things I Have Stashed Online section. 2008 is only partial. I think I have lists for some other years somewhere but I cannot get my old hard drive to work to look for them. Ah, technology.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Lookback at a 2005 New Year's resolution
Years ago I was in New York City and was in a church where I stumbled across this. I really hope Sadie managed to keep his/her resolution.
2010 and this blog
Well, assuming you don't read this in an RSS feed, you can tell I already changed the appearance of this blog. I hate the basic blogger templates and really liked the storm cloud image this person had. I didn't like some of the other aspects of the layout so I changed it up to suit my likings.
Beyond the appearance, though, I am expecting some things to be different about this blog in 2010. I see myself being involved with baseball cards more. I will have links up to my burgeoning Adam Dunn and Mat Latos collections. I'm hoping to reignite my Expos project, I hope to rekindle the Group of 79 Project. I think I may even try and collect the 2008 Upper Deck X set. My plans are to attend my first card show in twenty years this Saturday. So, yeah, I think there'll be more baseball cards.
I cannot imagine there will be as many books. One book every four days is a lot for me and I don't think I could keep that pace up again. I'm going to see if I can find my older reading lists and put links up to them. I might try and review some more books in my baseball library.
Beyond that, we'll have to see. My life is topsy-turvy as I still am underemployed, still in grad school, still financially strapped (yet unwisely spend what little I do have on baseball stuff (books and cards)). Mostly I'm trying to figure out what I want to spend the rest of my life doing, whether I can make money doing so, if not, figuring out how I want to make money, and maybe most of all, hoping my Princess Charming and I can lead a life of happiness together. Add in my usual failed efforts at losing weight, my successful, albeit sporadic, attempts at becoming stronger and fitter, and the lifelong battle against dysthymia, and I have quite a full plate without trying to figure out what this space will be.
But this is fun, I've been connecting with more people in the baseball card world, my friends like to respond to my posts in the comments or in e-mails. There'll be something here, just don't know what.
I hope you have a great 2010!
Beyond the appearance, though, I am expecting some things to be different about this blog in 2010. I see myself being involved with baseball cards more. I will have links up to my burgeoning Adam Dunn and Mat Latos collections. I'm hoping to reignite my Expos project, I hope to rekindle the Group of 79 Project. I think I may even try and collect the 2008 Upper Deck X set. My plans are to attend my first card show in twenty years this Saturday. So, yeah, I think there'll be more baseball cards.
I cannot imagine there will be as many books. One book every four days is a lot for me and I don't think I could keep that pace up again. I'm going to see if I can find my older reading lists and put links up to them. I might try and review some more books in my baseball library.
Beyond that, we'll have to see. My life is topsy-turvy as I still am underemployed, still in grad school, still financially strapped (yet unwisely spend what little I do have on baseball stuff (books and cards)). Mostly I'm trying to figure out what I want to spend the rest of my life doing, whether I can make money doing so, if not, figuring out how I want to make money, and maybe most of all, hoping my Princess Charming and I can lead a life of happiness together. Add in my usual failed efforts at losing weight, my successful, albeit sporadic, attempts at becoming stronger and fitter, and the lifelong battle against dysthymia, and I have quite a full plate without trying to figure out what this space will be.
But this is fun, I've been connecting with more people in the baseball card world, my friends like to respond to my posts in the comments or in e-mails. There'll be something here, just don't know what.
I hope you have a great 2010!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Final book review of 2009
This is it, the final book review of 2009. I read 92 books this year, easily the most I have read in a single year (working in a library will help in that regard). Historically I average about sixty books a year.
Right now I am on a foreign author kick. I'm in the midst of a book by an Australian. I have an Australian, a Dutch and a German book lined up to be read next and Per Petterson, the author of Out Stealing Horses, is Norwegian. Elegance of the Hedgehog is French. I'm not sure about Shakespeare. I think he was from Detroit.
If the book I'm currently reading and Petterson's book are indicative of what I can expect from writers from other countries, I may stop reading things by Americans. I really liked Out Stealing Horses. The book is told by an old Norwegian man who has bought himself a place out in the countryside after his wife and sister have passed away. He leads a very spartan existence and is glad to live a life alone after all these years. When he meets a neighbor who was a brother of a friend of his during his childhood, he begins to reminiscence about his past. The chapters alternate between present time and him flashing back to when he was fifteen.
As a young lad, he spent a summer with his father, helping him fell timber in an effort to raise money. They lived and worked in a rural area on the border of Norway and Sweden where his father had acquired a place during World War II. The narrator, Trond, discovers that his father helped people escape from the Germans during World War II and also ran off with his neighbor's wife, for whom his father still has feelings, during a botched escape.
During that summer there are a number of tragedies. An accidental death. The running off of Trond's friend because of his involvement in the death. A severe injury. The discoveries about Trond's father, who, at the end of the summer, does not return with Trond to his mother. A lot of twists and turns that tarnish Trond's enjoyable summer with his father.
There is a lot of sadness and resentment that ultimately is resolved with an unexpected event in Trond's life. It's a nice story that moves quite well which deals a lot with relationships. What surprised me the most about it, and something I really liked, was that there was a ruggedness to the writing. The story largely takes place outdoors and while Trond appreciates and describes the pleasantness of the surroundings, he is also equally appreciative of the harshness of it.
When you read a book, you can sometimes get a sense of the physical characteristics of the writer. Michael Chabon to me looks like he writes. He is an intellectual, a bit of a pretty boy, froo-froo writer. Stephen King, like his books, creeps you out when you see him. Per Petterson may be the first writer of whom I would expect, based on his writing, to feel callouses if I shook his hand (well, maybe Joseph Monninger). I may be in the trees with this theory but regardless, Petterson's style is a pleasant change from much of what I have read.
I'm not entirely sure why I don't feel like rating this book two stars. Lack of a plot, maybe. A little too much thinking to make connections. But it is certainly close. Give it a try.
Right now I am on a foreign author kick. I'm in the midst of a book by an Australian. I have an Australian, a Dutch and a German book lined up to be read next and Per Petterson, the author of Out Stealing Horses, is Norwegian. Elegance of the Hedgehog is French. I'm not sure about Shakespeare. I think he was from Detroit.
If the book I'm currently reading and Petterson's book are indicative of what I can expect from writers from other countries, I may stop reading things by Americans. I really liked Out Stealing Horses. The book is told by an old Norwegian man who has bought himself a place out in the countryside after his wife and sister have passed away. He leads a very spartan existence and is glad to live a life alone after all these years. When he meets a neighbor who was a brother of a friend of his during his childhood, he begins to reminiscence about his past. The chapters alternate between present time and him flashing back to when he was fifteen.
As a young lad, he spent a summer with his father, helping him fell timber in an effort to raise money. They lived and worked in a rural area on the border of Norway and Sweden where his father had acquired a place during World War II. The narrator, Trond, discovers that his father helped people escape from the Germans during World War II and also ran off with his neighbor's wife, for whom his father still has feelings, during a botched escape.
During that summer there are a number of tragedies. An accidental death. The running off of Trond's friend because of his involvement in the death. A severe injury. The discoveries about Trond's father, who, at the end of the summer, does not return with Trond to his mother. A lot of twists and turns that tarnish Trond's enjoyable summer with his father.
There is a lot of sadness and resentment that ultimately is resolved with an unexpected event in Trond's life. It's a nice story that moves quite well which deals a lot with relationships. What surprised me the most about it, and something I really liked, was that there was a ruggedness to the writing. The story largely takes place outdoors and while Trond appreciates and describes the pleasantness of the surroundings, he is also equally appreciative of the harshness of it.
When you read a book, you can sometimes get a sense of the physical characteristics of the writer. Michael Chabon to me looks like he writes. He is an intellectual, a bit of a pretty boy, froo-froo writer. Stephen King, like his books, creeps you out when you see him. Per Petterson may be the first writer of whom I would expect, based on his writing, to feel callouses if I shook his hand (well, maybe Joseph Monninger). I may be in the trees with this theory but regardless, Petterson's style is a pleasant change from much of what I have read.
I'm not entirely sure why I don't feel like rating this book two stars. Lack of a plot, maybe. A little too much thinking to make connections. But it is certainly close. Give it a try.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
I've always wanted to read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Way back in my senior year of high school, our English teacher had us randomly draw a book about which we had to then write a report and present it to the class. I drew The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Great book. One of my favorites I read in English class. If memory serves, Jon Mooney drew R&G are Dead. When he presented it, it sounded so good I vowed to read it someday. Twenty years later I finally got around to it.
Before I did, though, I wanted to re-familiarize myself with R&G. For those who don't know or remember, they are two of Hamlet's childhood friends from William Shakespeare's Hamlet but are also spies for Hamlet's uncle, Claudius. They are sent to take Hamlet to England and bearing a letter that states that Hamlet is to be killed. Hamlet discovers this, shakes the duo and they are killed.
I get ahead of myself. So I read Hamlet first. I have not read Shakespeare since college. Having done so I have come to the conclusion that the educational system ruins Shakespeare by forcing it onto young people when they have no prayer of understanding it. Sure, you have some unbalanced teens who enjoy and comprehend Shakespeare in high school. These are the ones who grow up to become English majors. For the vast majority, we struggle through the language, struggle through the era, struggle through themes too adult for us and, being teens, are filled with angst because of it.
I really enjoyed Hamlet this time around. If you haven't read it and are legally able to drink, do so. I cannot really write anything about it that hasn't already been written so I'm not going to expand beyond my description of R&G's involvement above. If you are still in your teens, you'll probably be forced to read it anyway but shouldn't.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is a play written in the 1960's by Tom Stoppard where R&G are the main characters. The play is very entertaining, despite its focus on free will and existentialism. R&G are confused about why they exist and what it is they are supposed to be doing. They stumble about, the other characters are as confused about the pair as they are about themselves, and ultimately, as in Hamlet, they die. Excerpts of Hamlet are interspersed throughout the play and all the characters, of course, are from Hamlet. It's a really interesting take and much more accessible than Shakespeare himself. I recommend reading the pair.
I'm going to throw my review of Graham Greene's The Tenth Man on the end here. As always, I loved Greene's writing. I didn't much care for the story or characters. A group of thirty prisoners during World War II are told by the Germans that three of them (one in ten) must die as retribution for attacks by the resistance in town. Lots are drawn and three men are selected. The one, a wealthy French lawyer, offers his entire wealth and estate to anyone who will switch positions with him. A man takes him up on it, papers are drawn up, and the wealth of the lawyer is transferred to the other man's sister and mother.
Years later, the Frenchman returns to his estate and meets with the sister and mother. The mother is under the impression that the wealth came from her son who has become successful off somewhere else. The sister knows the truth and is filled with venom because of the whole series of events. The Frenchman, realizing the hatred the sister has for the Frenchman, pretends to be another prisoner who knew her brother and gains employment as a servant. Another man turns up who claims to be the Frenchman. There are some twists and turns. Nothing satisfying happens. The end.
Lots of lying, lots of hate, death, no happiness for anyone. Just a pretty depressing book.
I'll have one more review before the end of the year as I am in the midst of the longest book I have read this year and will likely not finish it by Thursday.
Before I did, though, I wanted to re-familiarize myself with R&G. For those who don't know or remember, they are two of Hamlet's childhood friends from William Shakespeare's Hamlet but are also spies for Hamlet's uncle, Claudius. They are sent to take Hamlet to England and bearing a letter that states that Hamlet is to be killed. Hamlet discovers this, shakes the duo and they are killed.
I get ahead of myself. So I read Hamlet first. I have not read Shakespeare since college. Having done so I have come to the conclusion that the educational system ruins Shakespeare by forcing it onto young people when they have no prayer of understanding it. Sure, you have some unbalanced teens who enjoy and comprehend Shakespeare in high school. These are the ones who grow up to become English majors. For the vast majority, we struggle through the language, struggle through the era, struggle through themes too adult for us and, being teens, are filled with angst because of it.
I really enjoyed Hamlet this time around. If you haven't read it and are legally able to drink, do so. I cannot really write anything about it that hasn't already been written so I'm not going to expand beyond my description of R&G's involvement above. If you are still in your teens, you'll probably be forced to read it anyway but shouldn't.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is a play written in the 1960's by Tom Stoppard where R&G are the main characters. The play is very entertaining, despite its focus on free will and existentialism. R&G are confused about why they exist and what it is they are supposed to be doing. They stumble about, the other characters are as confused about the pair as they are about themselves, and ultimately, as in Hamlet, they die. Excerpts of Hamlet are interspersed throughout the play and all the characters, of course, are from Hamlet. It's a really interesting take and much more accessible than Shakespeare himself. I recommend reading the pair.
I'm going to throw my review of Graham Greene's The Tenth Man on the end here. As always, I loved Greene's writing. I didn't much care for the story or characters. A group of thirty prisoners during World War II are told by the Germans that three of them (one in ten) must die as retribution for attacks by the resistance in town. Lots are drawn and three men are selected. The one, a wealthy French lawyer, offers his entire wealth and estate to anyone who will switch positions with him. A man takes him up on it, papers are drawn up, and the wealth of the lawyer is transferred to the other man's sister and mother.
Years later, the Frenchman returns to his estate and meets with the sister and mother. The mother is under the impression that the wealth came from her son who has become successful off somewhere else. The sister knows the truth and is filled with venom because of the whole series of events. The Frenchman, realizing the hatred the sister has for the Frenchman, pretends to be another prisoner who knew her brother and gains employment as a servant. Another man turns up who claims to be the Frenchman. There are some twists and turns. Nothing satisfying happens. The end.
Lots of lying, lots of hate, death, no happiness for anyone. Just a pretty depressing book.
I'll have one more review before the end of the year as I am in the midst of the longest book I have read this year and will likely not finish it by Thursday.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
"Christmas music" retrospective
It's Christmas Eve when I'm writing this and I'm feeling a little melancholy. Listening to some tunes and reflecting on ghosts of Christmas past. Thought I'd share some songs from albums I received as gifts from Christmases in the past. Not comprehensive, and with my memory, not remotely achievable. Just a sampling.
First, Christmas of 1987. Two memorable and influential albums:
1993:
Christmas, 1997:
2001:
2003, seems like everyone got me music:
2005:
Of course, now with digital music, the tangible album is heading towards being a thing of Christmas pasts. Just as long as books don't go that way.
First, Christmas of 1987. Two memorable and influential albums:
1993:
Christmas, 1997:
2001:
2003, seems like everyone got me music:
2005:
Of course, now with digital music, the tangible album is heading towards being a thing of Christmas pasts. Just as long as books don't go that way.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
The potential 8-way 8-8 record NFL playoff tie
I don't follow football. I check the scores on Sunday, usually around 3:55 PM, just to see who is winning. I root in a general manner for the Pennsylvania teams. Might get a little more interested around playoff time but really I couldn't care too much.
I AM excited about the potential of eight AFC teams finishing with an 8-8 record and the tiebreaker procedure to determine who makes the playoffs.
You currently have the Broncos and Ravens at 8-6, the Jets, Dolphins, Steelers, Jaguars and Texans at 7-7 and the Titans at 7-8. Here's how it has to go down:
1. The Broncos and Ravens must lose their next two and the Titans win their last one to finish 8-8.
2. The Ravens would lose to Pittsburgh tomorrow which means Pittsburgh would then have to lose their last game to finish 8-8.
3. That last game Pittsburgh would have to lose would be at the hands of the Dolphins. Therefore, that means the Dolphins must beat the Texans tomorrow.
4. The Texans loss tomorrow would require them to beat the Patriots the final week of the season.
There are six of the eight teams with the needed outcomes being very clear. The Jets and the Jaguars would have to split their final two games to each finish 8-8.
The NFL playoff rules require multi-team Wild Card scenarios to be determined by first determining which of the teams would be the top in their division using the division tie-breaking procedures.
The Dolphins would be ranked the top team in the East by virtue of defeating the Jets both times they met.
The Ravens would get the edge over the Steelers in the North. The Steelers victory would give them a split with the Ravens but the Ravens would end the season with a 3-3 division record compared to the Steelers 2-4.
The South gets tricky. The Titans, Jaguars and Texans would be ranked first according to their record among themselves. The Jaguars beat Houston twice and split with Tennessee. Tennessee also split with Houston. The Jaguars 3-1 record makes them the South representative.
The Broncos would be the sole 8-8 team from the West.
So we're down to the Dolphins, Ravens, Jaguars and Broncos for the two Wild Card spots. No team beat the other three so it goes to conference record. Dolphins would be 6-6. Ravens would be 6-6. Jaguars would be 7-5 and the Broncos would be 6-6. Therefore, the Jaguars become the 5th seed in the playoffs.
Things get even wackier now. The tie-breaker goes to record against common opponents with a minimum of four games. All three remaining teams played the Colts, Chargers, Patriots and Steelers in a total of five games. The Dolphins only mustered one victory, beating the Patriots. The Ravens and Broncos would each end 2-3 against those opponents. So the Dolphins are out.
Since the Broncos defeated the Ravens on November 1, the Broncos would then get the nod based on head-to-head record giving them the final seed in the AFC.
Looking at the 8-8 scenario makes things a lot clearer overall. For instance, the Steelers have to win both of their games and have the Ravens lose both or else the Ravens will get the nod on conference record. Likewise, based on the season sweep, the Jets need to win more games than the Dolphins over the last two. The Titans can only make the playoffs if the Jaguars AND the Texans get swept AND they win.
Although it would mean the Steelers would be out, it would be an awful lot of fun to see so many team finish at .500 and two of them make the playoffs.
Update:Decided to take a look and see what the Steelers chances are if they do finish 9-7. In their own division, I already mentioned that the Ravens have to lose both of their games for the Steelers to be in. Even if the Bengals lost their last two to also finish 9-7, the fact that they were undefeated in the division would give them the division title and force the Steelers into the Wild Card pool.
Since the Steelers would need two wins, their victory over the Dolphins would prevent Miami from finishing 9-7. The other teams that could end up 9-7 are the Patriots, Jets, Jaguars, Texans and Broncos. The Patriots and Jets split their matchup but the Patriots have the better division record meaning the Jets would be the Wild Card contender and the Pats would have the division title.
I'm not going to go through all the rigamarole but things are pretty bleak for the Steelers even if they do win their last two and the Ravens lose both. If the Steelers and one other team, even Baltimore, finish 9-7, Pittsburgh is in good shape. They would be the fifth seed, even, if Denver is the only other 9-7 team. In a multi-team setting, though, Pittsburgh loses out in all the scenarios and so does not make the playoffs if two or more of those other four teams (or Baltimore) finish 9-7. Bad news, indeed.
I AM excited about the potential of eight AFC teams finishing with an 8-8 record and the tiebreaker procedure to determine who makes the playoffs.
You currently have the Broncos and Ravens at 8-6, the Jets, Dolphins, Steelers, Jaguars and Texans at 7-7 and the Titans at 7-8. Here's how it has to go down:
1. The Broncos and Ravens must lose their next two and the Titans win their last one to finish 8-8.
2. The Ravens would lose to Pittsburgh tomorrow which means Pittsburgh would then have to lose their last game to finish 8-8.
3. That last game Pittsburgh would have to lose would be at the hands of the Dolphins. Therefore, that means the Dolphins must beat the Texans tomorrow.
4. The Texans loss tomorrow would require them to beat the Patriots the final week of the season.
There are six of the eight teams with the needed outcomes being very clear. The Jets and the Jaguars would have to split their final two games to each finish 8-8.
The NFL playoff rules require multi-team Wild Card scenarios to be determined by first determining which of the teams would be the top in their division using the division tie-breaking procedures.
The Dolphins would be ranked the top team in the East by virtue of defeating the Jets both times they met.
The Ravens would get the edge over the Steelers in the North. The Steelers victory would give them a split with the Ravens but the Ravens would end the season with a 3-3 division record compared to the Steelers 2-4.
The South gets tricky. The Titans, Jaguars and Texans would be ranked first according to their record among themselves. The Jaguars beat Houston twice and split with Tennessee. Tennessee also split with Houston. The Jaguars 3-1 record makes them the South representative.
The Broncos would be the sole 8-8 team from the West.
So we're down to the Dolphins, Ravens, Jaguars and Broncos for the two Wild Card spots. No team beat the other three so it goes to conference record. Dolphins would be 6-6. Ravens would be 6-6. Jaguars would be 7-5 and the Broncos would be 6-6. Therefore, the Jaguars become the 5th seed in the playoffs.
Things get even wackier now. The tie-breaker goes to record against common opponents with a minimum of four games. All three remaining teams played the Colts, Chargers, Patriots and Steelers in a total of five games. The Dolphins only mustered one victory, beating the Patriots. The Ravens and Broncos would each end 2-3 against those opponents. So the Dolphins are out.
Since the Broncos defeated the Ravens on November 1, the Broncos would then get the nod based on head-to-head record giving them the final seed in the AFC.
Looking at the 8-8 scenario makes things a lot clearer overall. For instance, the Steelers have to win both of their games and have the Ravens lose both or else the Ravens will get the nod on conference record. Likewise, based on the season sweep, the Jets need to win more games than the Dolphins over the last two. The Titans can only make the playoffs if the Jaguars AND the Texans get swept AND they win.
Although it would mean the Steelers would be out, it would be an awful lot of fun to see so many team finish at .500 and two of them make the playoffs.
Update:Decided to take a look and see what the Steelers chances are if they do finish 9-7. In their own division, I already mentioned that the Ravens have to lose both of their games for the Steelers to be in. Even if the Bengals lost their last two to also finish 9-7, the fact that they were undefeated in the division would give them the division title and force the Steelers into the Wild Card pool.
Since the Steelers would need two wins, their victory over the Dolphins would prevent Miami from finishing 9-7. The other teams that could end up 9-7 are the Patriots, Jets, Jaguars, Texans and Broncos. The Patriots and Jets split their matchup but the Patriots have the better division record meaning the Jets would be the Wild Card contender and the Pats would have the division title.
I'm not going to go through all the rigamarole but things are pretty bleak for the Steelers even if they do win their last two and the Ravens lose both. If the Steelers and one other team, even Baltimore, finish 9-7, Pittsburgh is in good shape. They would be the fifth seed, even, if Denver is the only other 9-7 team. In a multi-team setting, though, Pittsburgh loses out in all the scenarios and so does not make the playoffs if two or more of those other four teams (or Baltimore) finish 9-7. Bad news, indeed.
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