Cubs Baseball Has Wildest Game

I love a box score that tells an insane story.  

I was not watching yesterday, just checking the score online, and things were getting nuts.  So while I worked on some things, I noted that the game was going bananas and tuned in.

But that box score couldn't tell the whole story.  From @OptaSTATS

Condensed game from Marquee Network below:

Kylie Minogue at the Moody Center - April 17, 2025

Now that's how you command an audience

I was aware of Kylie Minogue when she covered The Locomotion (by Carol King, natch!), way back circa 1987.  I figured she was one of a thousand flash-in-the-pan pop starlets, especially as, much like Tiffany covering I Think We're Alone Now, the song was already in the zeitgeist.  

I can't say I thought much about Kylie again until she popped up as The Green Fairy in Moulin Rouge, at which point I began formulating the idea that Kylie is a good idea, indeed.

a stunningly good argument for absinthe

And then, of course, with the release of her album, Fever, she dropped the single Can't Get You Out Of My Head, and America was finally given a real look at Minogue - including a 2002 appearance on SNL (that is not currently on YouTube, which is a shame).  

I turned 50

look at me, enjoying time with Jamie at a ball game while my dad photobombs us

Well, I turned 50 this weekend.

I always acknowledge my birthday at the media review branch of League of Melbotis by finding a song and lyrics that seem to articulate the way we're feeling at the time.  I have a playlist if you want to jam out to my vibes the past several years.  

It's been a wild few years, to be honest.  But that's just life as an adult, I think.  I try to be zen about it all.  Things are tough sometimes, but we have a great family support system, and that does a lot to keep you going.  I've refocused.  You keep moving.

To celebrate my birthday, I managed to pull together family that was in town (Dug and K live elsewhere, but more details on that shortly) and we all did one of my favorite things.  We went to a baseball game.  We watched the Round Rock Express triumph over the Oklahoma City Comets on a windy, sunny day.  

Jamie's Birthday

Today is Jamie's birthday.  

I met Jamie when we were both 18 and starting college, although I was at the big university 90 minutes up the road, and she was at the smaller college in San Antonio.  I'd come down to partake in a party at a house off-campus where my brother and his pals would be, and Jamie was the randomly assigned roommate of a pal from high school.

I *did* try to ask her out that fall, but she wasn't feeling well and dating was off the table.  Fair enough.  Fortunately, a couple years later she let me know she *was* now open to dating, and I signed up immediately.  This fall, it'll have been thirty years.  

Which means we've spent our adult lives together.

But that's the thing.  She's still as new to me today as she was when we first went out, and I still want her company even more.  Working from home has spoiled me completely - my one-day-per-week in the office is a drag.  I still want to impress her and see if I can make her laugh, and make dinner for her and be there for her.  Because she's the best.  She is maybe not someone who is loud or incredibly demonstrative with her love, but she has a lot of it.

She's always my biggest supporter (sometimes taking me by surprise as my hype-man when I was playing it cool), and always my best counsel.  I think the past decade, I've gotten really good at listening to her as the person who knows when I'm on to something and when I'm just spinning my wheels.  You need a Jamie to keep you honest, team.

We're now old enough that everyone has put up with something in their lives, health-wise or in their personal history.  But Jamie has dealt with her own challenges since she was 17, and she's done it with a strength and grace I envy.  It is very hard to explain all the challenges, scares and bad-days she's had, and she still gets up and lives every day.  

This is a milestone birthday, and it means the world to me that I get to spend it with her.  

Happy birthday, baby.  I love you.

SEC Champions! UT Women's Basketball Game - 03/02/2025

your geniuses at work

On Sunday, March 2, we headed to the University of Texas campus to catch the UT Women’s Basketball team play in the final game of the year. I thought I was being a smart boy and bought tickets for my parents, Jamie and myself. 

This week is my mom’s birthday, and my parents are both alumnae of the University of Florida, who we were playing. I called to surprise them, and they informed me they’d already purchased tickets to the same game. This is how things work at my house. 

Steanso, The Niece and Yours Truly

So, Sunday afternoon my mom and cousin met up with me and Jamie, and then Steanso's family.  We had seats in separate sections, but it worked out.

Phantogram at ACL Live - Austin, TX 01/24/2025

Went to go see Phantogram downtown Austin this evening.  Attended with Steanso and Frank.

I've been into Phantogram since hearing When I'm Small as the music to a trailer for a comic book years ago.  I've seen them once before at The Mohawk.

I've dug their progression over the years, including experiments like Big Grams.

Anyway, they put on a solid 90+ minute set that was all rockin', minimal talkin' at a sold out ACL Live.

If I can find a set list, I'll post it.  But they definitely played all my favorite songs, so what else can you ask for?

Oh, here we go - set list found by our man on the InterWebs, JimD!

Frank had never seen them, and really didn't know them, but I think he dug them a lot.  

Hilariously, the bass was so hard during one song I could feel the air moving around my legs.  It was a great show and the crowd was super into it.  

By the way, these pics aren't great because I'm 6'5" and stood at the back so other folks could see.  

Here's some quick video I grabbed that isn't any good.

Link 1

Link 2

Also, this signs was accurate:

late edit:  supporting act was GLU out of LA.  One-man act, former Queens of the Stone Age member, sorta a meld of alt-rock and hip-hop that had some tracks that were pretty dang good.  

Andre Crosses the Rainbow Bridge

during Christmas this year

Just over three years ago, we adopted a very large dog.

We'd been going through a rescue that specializes in Golden Retrievers, and got something we thought was a mix.  A 110+ pound mix of Golden Retriever and... something.  Our new boi swiftly got healthier and was now a 120+ pound mix.  And, as it would turn out, not a Golden at all, but a Great Pyrenees mix with a dollop of Pit Bull.  

But because the rescue thought he was a gigantic Golden, they'd named him Andre the Giant.  When given a chance to rename him, we figured he'd just been given a new name, and he sure seemed like an Andre.  

In the end, his breed explained a lot.  As a Golden, he'd had a hard time getting adopted out because he would bark at people who came to meet him, which could be intimidating.  But, Pyrs are sheep guard dogs, and they bark at people entering their territory.  We didn't have that problem - he came to meet us at our house - and it was kind of love at first sight, but when we thought he was a Golden, his behavior was super odd.  

When he didn't want to do something badly enough, or he got scared, he would sploot - just go to ground and dare you to move him.  He didn't want to be in the backyard at all, even with us, and he was very confused by things Goldens love, like toys, pleasing people, and following commands - which is not a thing Pyrs care about at all.