SOULMATES 34 years and recounting.

Here are the prompts for this week’s Writer’s Workshop: 

1.  Write a post based on the word soulmates. 
2. Write a post in exactly 8 sentences. 
3. Post photos of your Halloween costume or your (grand)child(ren)’s costume(s). 
4. Make a list of things you have planned for November. 
5. List the top ten songs that you never want to hear again, and why. 
6. Write an essay entitled “Giving a child an unusual name is a bad idea.”

I chose #1. I decided to write an Acrostic essay about my soulmate and best friend who is also my wife of 65 years.  (We've only completed 26 so far.)

Suited to one another? I met Amy in the fall of 1990. I was 25 and she was 21.  I was returning to the WIU campus after having to take the semester off for academic reasons.  She had just graduated from Northern Illinois University that Spring and was starting graduate school in Macomb. 

Our paths meet. She decided to go to the year's first large-group meeting of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship which met on the 2nd floor of the student union.  I believe the meeting was held in the Fox Room.  A majority of our meetings were held in that particular room.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, our meeting at the Fox Room (if it was the Fox Room), was not the first time Amy encountered me.  She had gotten to the Student Union early that night and was studying at the Hardees when she spotted me waiting in line to order. She thought to herself, self, that the guy in the ball cap stroking his chin and pondering what type of Hardee’s  fare he will consume tonight is just the kind of guy who is likely to be at this meeting tonight.

Lisle, Illinois is where Amy said she was from when I introduced myself to her at the I-V meeting.  It turned out her hunch was right I was one of the students on the exec committee for our chapter and introduced myself to all the newcomers that night.  It also turned out that Lisle was where my grandparents lived.

Many things in common. Besides Lisle, it turned out that Amy and I shared quite a few similarities.  We were both from families with 5 children.  Our fathers were both the oldest of 7 children.  We were both raised Catholic and we both became disillusioned with that faith when our Parish priests came into our Parochial schools in 7th grade to tell us that not all of the Bible was true.

A Friendship quickly blossomed. We were inseparable.  Because I did not have a car at school and because we lived in suburbs near each other we drove back to the Chicago area on holidays and vacations.  We both enjoyed watching and playing sports and so many other things.  Whether at school or back at home we spent most of our free time together.

Time Passed as it always does.  She was the closest friend I ever had.  But life outside of university beckoned us both and we began to make our way in the wide world.  We talked on the phone,  exchanged letters and tapes over the years,  and spent as much time together when we were in the same time zone. Many people began to realize that there was something between us beyond friendship.  If there was we were oblivious to that notion.  

Eventually, we realized what others had already figured out.  We loved each other, and one night in February of 1997 on AOL of all things, I got the memo that the Godly wife I had almost given up on finding was the same person who had sized me up at Hardees all those years before,

Soulmates? Certainly, but the best kind. Best friends who fell in love and never stopped being best friends.

Thanks to John Holton for hosting the Writers Workshop at The Sound of One Hand Typing.

Who I'm Not voting for in the 2024 Presidential Election and Why not.

 The U.S. Presidential election is a week away, and I wanted to explain how I am voting in it. This is not an endorsement; I don't expect anyone to vote like I am. However, I do feel that I am making a logical and sensible decision, given the choices before me.  

If you were not aware, the election is between Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. In the state of Illinois, where I reside, one other candidate is also listed on the ballot.

I have quite a bit of history when it comes to voting in elections.  I turned 18 in 1982 and voted officially in that election and voted in my first Presidential election in 1984.  Before that, I had voted in 2 mock elections, one in 1976 at Grove Jr. High School where I  voted for Gerald Ford over Jimmy Carter, and one in 1980  at Elk Grove High School where I voted for Carter over Ronald Reagan.  Incidentally, I voted for Carter for the same reason I voted against Carter: I thought that the incumbent candidate needed more time to complete their work.  On both these occasions my views were in the minority. 

My procedures for choosing who to vote for have evolved since those mock elections days.  I take the responsibility to vote very seriously.  Initially, I try to pick between the majority party candidates, and if neither stands out to me as the best choice I may vote for an independent or write-in candidate. I believe one time, four years ago, when I found no candidate worthy of my vote,  I just skipped down to the next race in the election.

The first thing I try to determine is whether the candidates are credible.  That is to say are they believable?  Will they do what they say they are going to do?  It may surprise some people that this is the first thing that I try to determine.  Why not look at what the candidates say they believe and vote on the one I agree with the most?  Why not? Because, if the candidate is not credible it doesn't matter whether I agree with what they are saying if I don't believe they can or will do it.  

Among the two major party candidates, there is only one credible candidate and that is Vice President Harris.  When I read the issues page of her website I believed her when she said these are the issues that are important to her. So, she is credible in that regard.  

Unfortunately, there is very little that Donald Trump says that I believe.  To me, he is not a credible candidate.  He says that he won the last election, In fact, 3 minutes into his Jan 6th, 2020 speech at the Capitol Mall, he stated "We won this election, and we won it in a landslide".  This was never a credible statement.  Trump has been creating a false narrative since he first declared in 2015 that he was seeking high office and that the only way he could lose is if other people cheated. So naturally when he lost the election it was because of massive fraud. 

There are very few things that Trump has said that I have believed.  Most of his few credible statements are not positive.  He said recently that if reelected he will consider arresting his opposition.  As scary as that image is and how undemocratic it seems, I can totally believe that he would consider that.  When he was caught on a hot mike saying he wanted to force himself on women, I found that credible.  Morally reprehensible, yet credible.  When as President, he maligned the countries that were sending us the most immigrants, I truly believed that he could be so mean-spirited and uncaring.  Unfortunately, all those statements match to what has already been revealed by his character. When he makes positive claims, his character, and his history of previously false claims, make it virtually impossible for me to believe a word he says.  

This is why when he claimed to be pro-life when running in 2016 I did not believe him.  When he actually did appoint conservative judges and justices I was surprised.  Those appointments did lead to Roe vs. Wade being overturned in 2022. So you might think that I would now find Trump credible at least on this issue.  No, Trump has backpedaled on his abortion views for the 2024 election and so I can't find him credible on that issue either.  I chalk it up more to political expediency than anything else.  

In most Presidential elections since I started voting in 1984 there have been (in my opinion)  2 major party credible candidates running against each other.  The only exceptions are the aforementioned Donald Trump and Bill Clinton.  In Clinton's case, I never found him to be a trustworthy candidate.  

If there are 2 credible candidates I don't then try to decide who's more credible.  I decide who's more worthy of my vote.  Only credible candidates are worthy of anyone's vote, and then I am free to decide from who's left.  

The Republican Party has done the country a great disservice over the last 3 election cycles by not putting a credible candidate on the Presidential ballot,  Fortunately for them, most voters look for a candidate who purports to match their views first and then judge the character of that candidate.  This puts the voter in a difficult situation by looking for candidates who agree with them they open themselves up to be maneuvered by master operators like Clinton and Trump.  

In 1992, it seemed like the Republicans saw Clinton for who he was, but the Democrats failed to grasp that. They were enamored with the idea of putting the first Democrat in the White House since Carter won in '76.  In 2016 despite a field of credible Republican candidates, the Republicans reimagined themselves in the worst possible way picking a bully who could win and make populist gains at the risk of the party's soul.  

I think it might be easy to think that if there is only one credible candidate that is the candidate you should vote for. But this has simply not been true for me.   I could have gladly supported Joe Biden years ago when he was a Pro-Life Democrat, especially over Trump.   Biden decided to believe that a Pro-Life Democrat could not elect his President and changed his stance so he could get the job he always wanted.  Biden abandoned his beliefs for the expediency of office for the same motives that the Republicans abandoned their integrity to embrace Trump.  In the 2016 and 2020 elections, this put me in quite a pickle.  I didn't believe that anyone should vote for Trump and I could not bring myself to vote for Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden. While I found both these candidates credible, my conscience would not let me support them.

People would tell me you must choose the lesser of two evils.  I would say why should I choose evil?   Also, if I had to choose the lesser of two evils in those elections it would not have been Trump.  I'm not even sure that Trump would ever admit that he was the lesser of two anything. "People are always telling me Don you're so evil.  Frankly, If I was going to be evil I'd be amazing at it."

Adam Kizinger made an impassioned speech at the 2024 DNC urging his fellow Republicans to vote for Harris in the election,  It is tempting but the truth is that the 2024 election has me in the same pickle. I won't consider Trump and when I do consider Harris, I can't get past her pro-choice positions.  It's frustrating because I would have gladly supported someone like Nikki Haley or Kizinger and will probably end up writing one of their names on my ballot.  I'm not picky, I just want to be able to choose between two credible candidates and the Republican party keeps on robbing me of that opportunity.  

A 12 Sentence Post (which is better than no post at all).

 It is Fall, and I am in my usual  decline of posting here at Leap of Dave. Lately, when I have posted,  I've just been putting out OPV (Other People's Videos) instead of mixing in my own content. It's not that I don't have things to write about, there are plenty of post ideas that I am wanting to get out there; it's not even about lack of time, it's more like I need a jump start to get this blog churning again.  So, for that much needed jump start, I went to my blog roll and saw that John Holton of The Sound of One Hand Typing  put out this week's Writing Workshop prompts. 

Along with trying to write this post using 12 sentences only, I will also use another of his prompts to tell you why I use Google Chrome.  I am not a Chrome snob by any means it is just something that I am used to, it doesn't try to invade my computer like Microsoft Edge does, and I never really got into Firefox. 

As a long term substitute teacher at a middle school my job is both varied and predictable.  For the past few days I've been subbing for 7th grade teachers.  Our 6th graders last year were a bit of a challenging bunch, and I have been glad to see that many of them have matured since last year.  Many, however, is not most, and the past few days while not difficult, have been eventful.  

Thanks again to John Holton, for helping me to have something to write about today.  I also appreciate John for reminding me that Weird Al Yankovic is turning 65 today, making him exactly 4 years and 11 months older than myself. 

Cole Kmet has a big Day for the Bears in London

Sunday was not just another home game for the Chicago Bears. First of all the game started at 8:30 A.M. Central Time which is very early for a Sunday match up. It started this early because the "home" game was played in London, England. The Bears defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 35-16 on Sunday. It was also an unusual game for Bears TE Cole Kmet. Kmet whose Dad played for the Bears among other teams but never played in an actual game grew up in the NW suburbs of Chicago and played football and baseball for St. Viator before going to Notre Dame for college. Cole Kmet hits HR for St. Viator in 2016 Sectional game

Here is Kmet in an interview in his time with ND. Here is footage of Kmet while playing with the Irish.  

 Kmet was drafted by the Bears in the 2nd round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

   

C.K. is kind of a Superman for the Bears.  In addition to playing starting Tight End, He is also the emergency long snapper.  A long snapper is a specialized center who snaps the ball on punts, field goals, and extra points.  The Bears usual long snapper suffered a knee injury in the first half of Sundays game.  That meant that when Kmet scored 2 touchdowns in the 2nd quarter he had to snap the ball on the subsequent plays for the Bears extra points.  

Click here to see Kmet's first touchdown on You Tube.

Donald Trump and Megan Mullally singing the "Green Acres" theme song at ...

EVANGELICALS FOR HARRIS Ad ("Keep Clear") #evangelicals #election2024

Prune Commercials from 1967 & !985

My wife bought prunes this weekend and I was reminded of this commercial that came out a few years after I was in high school about prunes. It was like the funniest commercial I had ever seen. The problem was when I described it to people even back then, they had never heard of it let alone seen it and thought it was more like a fake commercial from Saturday Night Live. I'll admit it's very much like the change bank. After Amy brought home the prunes I started looking for the commercial on You Tube Again. I have looked before and never able to find it. I had found this commercial before that Stan Freeberg (Dragonnet) had produced in the 60's (He's also the off screen interviewer)  

 This is a very funny commercial but still not as funny as the one from the 80's at least in my memory. 

 I finally found a clip of it. While The YouTube video below Could be of better quality, here is a link to a Facebook page that has a better copy of the commercial   

Thoughts on the Jimmy Carter Legacy on his 100th birthday.

  Jimmy Carter did not define the American Presidency.  It could well be argued that he defined the American Post Presidency.

To call Carter's 1  term tumultuous is to over-inflate the word tumult, it is better to refer to it as crisis-plagued. He inherited an energy crisis from Ford and left Reagan with a hostage crisis. In between these crises, He had to deal with a Russian invasion of Afghanistan that led to an Olympic Boycott and broker a peace agreement in the Middle East. I  highly recommend this article by Robert A. Strong for a synopsis of his presidency.

When Carter ended his 4 year residency in the White House in early 1981 he was 56 years old. That's 4 years younger than I am now.  This I believe is when his true legacy began.  Since leaving the White House, he started The Carter Center,  a global human rights organization, he has been a highly visible and highly productive volunteer of Habitat for Humanity, a prolific author, and a mediator and critic in Presidential politics.  He is the only U.S. President to win the Nobel Prize for accomplishments after his time as President.

Along with his work with Habitat for Humanity, the two accomplishments of Cater that I resonate the most with are his ability to speak his mind on divisive issues and his work as a rotating Sunday School teacher at his church in Plains Georgia.  An example of the first is a few years back when he tried to convince the Democratic Party to change their stance on abortion because it was causing so many voters who would otherwise vote for Democrats to either not vote or support Republicans.  

Jimmy Carter is not my favorite President, but he has long been my favorite former President.  When you look at his life as a whole, he may well be the most accomplished President we have ever had,  I find it fitting that he is the only President so far to live 100 years.  Next time I am enjoying boiled peanuts I will think about the Georgia peanut farmer who became an American icon.

A Clip from the 1982 Eureka College Commence Speech by then Presdident Ronald Reagan

I was looking up a Ronald Reagan quote to share with a friend on Facebook. While looking I came upon this quote which you can see by clicking here.

The link will allow you to read or view the entire address.  I will be posting the YouTube Video of the commencement speech next May on the 43rd anniversary of the commencement.   You don't have to link to the speech, you can google it or use other means to get there.  Just be sure to say "Eureka" after you have found it.  

1-3 Teams going to the playoffs in the 17 game era of the NFL

There have been many changes to the NFL in my lifetime:  

• The first AFL NFL championship game was in 1967 (retconned to be called the Super Bowl in 1969).
•  The merger of the AFL AND NFL into the NFL in 1970.
• The expansion from 26 teams to 28 teams in 1976.
• Switching in 1978 from a 14-game season to a 16-game season, and switching from 8 playoff teams to 10.
• Adding 2 more playoff teams in 1990 for a total of 12
• Expanding from 28 to 30 teams in 1995
• Expanding from 30 to 31  teams in 1999, and then to its current number (32) in 2001.
• With the change to 32 teams in 2001, the conferences were realigned to have 4 divisions with 4 teams each.
• In 2020 2 more playoff teams were added to make for a current total of 14 teams (4 division champions and 3 wild card teams from each conference).

2021 marked the most recent change which was an addition of 1 more regular season game for a total of 17. The 2024 season is the 4th year of the 17-game schedule.  

This latest change has been a little difficult for me to adapt to.  Before I explain why, let me provide some context.   From 1978 to 2020 you could easily divide the 16-game season into 4-game quarters.  After 4 weeks of football, you could look at your team's record and make an educated guess as to how your season might go especially if your team started 0-4  or 1-3.  Only the 1992 Chargers have ever started 0-4 and made it to the playoffs.  Since 1990 only 14% of teams since 1990 have started 1-3 and made it to the playoffs.  The difficulty for me has been getting used to the fact that the 4th-week results are no longer 1/4 of the season's results.  This of course doesn't mean they are not a good indicator of progress.

I was watching the Bears Rams game today where both teams shared a 1-2 record at kickoff.  The announcers were talking about the 4-game indicator and the difficulty of starting 1-3 which one team unless in the case of a tie would be by the end of the game.  After the Bears were victorious moving on to a 2-2 record and leaving the Rams with a 1-3 start, I got to thinking about if the change from 16 to 17 games and the addition of 2 more playoff teams would increase the chances of teams starting 1-3 in making the playoffs.  

In the small sample size of the past 3 completed seasons, there have been 25 teams that started 1-3 (10 in 21-22, 7 in 22-23, and 8 last season). In 21-22, 3 of the 10 (30%) made the playoffs.  This was more than double the average since 1990.  However, no 1-3 team in the 2  17-game seasons that followed has made it to the postseason.  This is a percentage of 12% which is lower than the average since 1990.  It is too early to tell if the 17-game 14 playoff team system will mean more playoff appearances for teams with 1-3 starts.  As it stands now, an average of 1 team per year makes the playoffs with the new format. 

If that stat would hold true this year, I think that team could be the Los Angeles Rams.  Rams Quarterback Matthew Stafford in his 16th season in the NFL looked pretty good against my Bears and all I can say is I'm glad we don't have to see him twice a year anymore like we did when he was with the Lions.  With today's loss, he's just 12-10 against Chicago but that record includes a 6-game win streak against us from September 2013 to January 2016.  

Stafford isn't the only reason why I think the Rams may make the playoffs after a 1-3 start. Like the Bears, the Ram's only losses this year have been on the road.  For the next 3 weeks, they will be playing at home.  The Rams were not near full strength today and hopefully, their injured stars will get healthy during the homestand.  The Rams looked good on both offense and defense today but had to attempt 5 field goals making 4, and scoring only 1 touchdown.  I believe the Rams can improve on their red zone efficiency as the season continues and get it to the level it was last year.

I think the Bears would have had a more difficult chance at making the playoffs with a 1-3 start than the Rams will.  Starting 2-2 doesn't come close to ensuring a playoff spot, but this victory against a solid hungry team is definitely a step in that direction.  

From the Archives: Bo Jackson's 3-Run Homer to Clinch AL West Division (...

NIU Radio broadcast of the NIU-Notre Dame ending (Full) | 2024 College F...

Last Saturday afternoon, NIU went to South Bend, Indiana and upset Notre Dame at home.

This videos shows the last 2 minutes of the game and the audio is the NIU radio broadcast.  The video begins with Notre Dame leading 14-13.

  

HOLLYWOOD ENDING! Tim Anderson walks it off at MLB at Field of Dreams!

A wordless Wednesday Worth Going Ape Over

 

A favorite gymnast and a favorite library

What do you think of when you think of Summer? Do you think of Summer Bartholomew the 1975 Miss America who was the hostess of the game show Sale of the Century?

Or do you think of Summer Glau who played  River Tam om Firefly?

Initially when I think of Summer, I don't think of people whose names begins with Summer as much as I think of events that happen in the Summer.

I think of Summer Reading programs and Summer Olympics.  Olympics are one of my favorite things.  I especially enjoy the team sports, swimming, diving, cycling, track and gymnastics. I love gymnastics.  My favorite current gymnast is  Simone Biles.  

I love few things as much as I love the Summer Olympics. Libraries may well be one of them. Not only because  they have the aforementioned Summer Reading Programs.  I am here right now at my local library using their computer for this post.  7 years ago my family moved from one town to a neighboring town. We were very familiar with the Gail Borden Library at the time of our move and were glad that we would now be walking distance from it.

Today at the library I was delighted to be  directed to my libraries facebook page and see two of my summer loves combined in 1 place. 
 

 Total disclosure, I have not read any James Patterson books so my total jump height is currently greater than stacking up all his books that I've read.  This will probably no longer be true if I ever read even just  of his books.  

Thanks GBPL (Gymnasast Biles Patterson Library Gail Borden Public Library)

How Bad are the 2024 White Sox?

 The Chicago White Sox are on a 10 game losing streak that dates back to July 10th because of the All Star Break.  This is their 2nd double digit losing streak this season.  The satirical news service the onion reported on them earlier this month.    

To give you an idea how bad they are you don't need to look  much further than their current record  (27-77) after their loss to the Rangers yesterday.  But here are a few more ...

• 50 games below .500 less than 2/3rd through the season
• According to the team Website Andrew Vaughn is leading the team in hitting with a ,236 Batting Average*
• The 2nd worst team in MLB, the Florida Marlins has a winning percentage of .363 that is 42 points better than the White Sox best monthly average of .321 (May and June).
• Most experts expect White Sox to be massive sellers before the Trade Deadline of July 30th which means their on-field product will probably, although incredibly hard to believe, much worse.

The White Sox are celebrating their 125th year in baseball in 2025 and have already begun promoting seasons tickets.  The  below video uses the White Sox past to promote the White Sox future because the White Sox present is absent of any hope.  

All 27 outs of Mark Buehrle's perfect game

15 years ago today, on July 24th 2009. Mark Buehrle pitched a perfect game for the Chicago White Sox.  to commemorate the anniversary enjoy this look at all 27 outs back when White Sox victories were not few and far  between.

 

The Sandberg Game | The Signature Game of Hall-of-Famer Ryne Sandberg's ...

40 years ago today The Cubs played the Cardinals in the famous "Sandberg" Game. Enjoy this documentary:

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The Last Haircut of My 50's?

 Yesterday I got my hair cut.  It's been very hot in Illinois and my hair has seen better days. So I got my hair cut.

                                                                        Before Haircut

                                                                          After Haircut

                                                      Day After Haircut / After Shaving

I got a two all over which is perfect for the hot weather and swimming.  When I get my hair this short it literally dries while I'm waiting in line for the diving board. My hair grows back rather quickly, but I hope that as short as I got it cut that I won't need another hair cut until late September making this my last haircut of my fifties.  I will probably need one more when school starts but just in case I made this post for posterity.  

Side Walk Chalk At Night (Wordless Wednesday)

 

Wordless Wednesday is held at Comedy Plus.  Check it out here.

Wordless Wednesday- Which of these signs is dumber?

 

For More Wordless Wednesdays Click  here to get to Comedy Plus.

100 Days of Summer Reading 2024

Summer is right around the corner and it is time for me to endeavor once again to get into one of my favorite past times: Summer Reading.  My Summer reading season generally goes from Memorial Day (tomorrow) to Labor Day (which is September 2nd this year).  By starting today and ending Labor Day, the season is 100 days long.  

I want to read at least 10 books during this period.  That is an absolute minimum goal.  I think I would actually be disappointed if I only read 10 books this Summer.  That is basically only one  book every week and a half.  I really have my eyes set on twenty, Which is 1 book every five days for a fortnight of weeks.  

Now when I say read, I really mean consume.  I may listen to some, and read some on a device, but the majority will be physical books which I will read from the printed page.  There are some books that I am in the middle of reading, if and when I finish them this Summer I will count them.  There are some reading programs that do not allow this,  but mine is not one of them.  To keep myself honest each year, I don't start reading any books the week prior to Memorial Day.  I've been so busy lately, that I don't think I've read any books for the last two weeks,  

My lack of recent reading could become problematic as I am out of habit.  Over the next few days I hope to remedy that by jumping back into the waters of reading.

Here is a list of 10 books that may be some of the first I finish this Summer.

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

This is probably a good time to stipulate that some of the books I plan  to read this Summer, I actually will be re-reading.  Earlier this month, in my A to Z Reflection, I wrote about my plan of reading all the Narnia books again this year, and then doing the 2025 A to Z challenge on the series.  I wouldn't be at all surprised, If I finished all 7 prior to Labor Day

Walking With Sam by Andrew McCarthy

Many of the books I read during this program are books that I own.  I picked this one up last year at a meet the author event.  My wife has already read this story of McCarthy's walking trip with his son on the Camino de Santiago.  I read some of it last year but will be starting anew as I'm not sure where I left off.

Luke: The Gospel of Amazement - Michael Card

Michael Card is one of my favorite singers, but I also enjoy his writings.  This was going to another one that I started over from the beginning. I just page through it and I remember most of the introductory material from reading it earlier this Spring.  I'm going to start again on page 32 which is a chapter about Luke chapter 1.

Eugene Onegin byAlexander Pushkin

Years ago I lived on Pushkin Street in Khabarovsk, Russia,  This Summer I will again be attempting to read Pushkin's verse novel, Eugene Onegin,  I have been very off again Onegin (pun very much intended) with this one.  For the past few months I have been  consistently practicing Russian for the first time in decades.  If I can wade through the English translation, maybe next year I'll attempt it in Russian.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien 

At the beginning of this year, I wrote a post about my plan to read FOTR (I have never finished it) by September 2nd, which is the 53rd anniversary of his death.  I am about 1/2 way finished and if I only read 1 book this Summer it needs to be this one.  If I'm not done by 4th of July I will start listening to it as well as reading it.

1984 by George Orwell

Speaking of books that I've  never finished.  2024 should be the year I finally finish 1984.  I've had to return a copy to the library twice this year, but I'll order one today from them and should be finishing it very soon.

Concise Theology by J.I. Packer

The 3rd book so far with initialized authors.  I have read this book multiple times over the years.  This year has been a little different as I've been reading one chapter at a time and highlighting that chapter as I read. There are 94 chapters and I have completed 24.  It is very possible I will not get through all 94 by Labor Day.

The Cooperstown Casebook by Jay Jaffe

  In my sports blog, Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Blog, (which has now been incorporated into this blog), I write a lot about Baseball's Hall of Fame.  Jaffe writes in this book about who he thinks are Hall of Fame worth candidates.  I am looking forward to finishing it soon.  

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle

As of yesterday, all my children are officially finished with their secondary education.  Which of course means they are all finished with their primary or elementary education as well.  I, on the other hand, will probably never be finished with  children's literature.  To that end, I'm dusting off a favorite tome from our home school days and planning to enjoy it anew this Summer.  

 Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

Now that school is over, I am looking forward to re-reading Allen Levi's fiction debut.  I believe I gave my copy away.  So, I may need to wait until I get a summer job and a summer paycheck before I get to this one.  

Don't be  too surprised if I finish other books before or instead of some of these  these 10.   I will try to post a review of each book as I finish them.  I'm not always successful when it comes to that part of the program, but we shall see.  3 short weeks after Labor Day I will turn 60, so this is my last Summer Reading Challenge of my 50's.  I think that will make it that much more enjoyable.  

Light Bulb Poem

Today was the last day of school and the only thing sadder than saying goodbye to my students for the Summer is saying the same thing to my computer.  Substitute teachers in my district need to borrow a computer each time they teach and return it at the end of the day,  Classroom teachers are able to keep their computers year round as long as they are employed by the district.  As a building sub, I am able to borrow a computer at the beginning of the year and not return it until the last day of the year. So today I had to say goodbye to my dear friend and I am back to borrowing computers from friends and libraries until the 24/25 school year gets under way. 

Before I returned the computer to the media center, I cleaned out any files I may have had put on there during the course of the year.  I came across a poem, I had written but forgotten all about.  I don't remember what my inspiration was. I think it may have stemmed (no pun intended) from one of the science classes I was subbing in.  Or it may have been am ELA assignment or maybe just a prompt form my poetry group.  In any case it was in a Microsoft document in a borrowed computer and is now a submission to Poetry Friday which is being hosted this week by Michelle Kogan.

 Growth Mindset

or

Standing on Our Failures

In cartoons,  when an unsolvable problem is about to need a new adjective, a light bulb goes on over the thinker’s head.   

 

When Thomas Alva Edison 

Or T. Alva Ed 

Was inventing the light bulb 

What went on over his head?

Idea after idea after idea 

More than 10,00 all told 

Which he did not view as failures 

But as steps to the goal. 

With each setback I think 

I would have felt like a jerk 

But Tom discovered 

ways that his bulb wouldn’t work 

Inspiration is a light 

Perspiration is when we fight 

To perfect our ideas 

Until we GET THEM RIGHT. 

Now when I have a bright idea. 

And the light bulb shines 

I stand on other's failures 

And a whole lot of mine.

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How to Make Learning as Addictive as Social Media | Luis Von Ahn | TED

Henry Cate of Why Homeschool Why Homeschool shared this great Ted Talk by the co-founder of Duo Lingo. His original post is here.

 

How Non Cubers Think You Solve A Rubik’s Cube

Wordless Wednesday: I Went to get a Snack From my Refrigerator and This Happened

For more Wordless Wednesday, click here to stop by at Comedy-Plus.

 

Dave Out Loud Comedy Set @roldaver

The White Sox are still very bad. But at this present moment they are not the worst.

 My beloved White Sox are really bad this year.  24 games into the season they had won 3 games and lost 24 for a paltry winning percentage of .125.  They have improved somewhat in the past two weeks.  Since the they snapped their season high 7 game losing streak and have had 2 3 game winning streaks  and 1 2 game winning streak for an 8-7 record.  This has more than doubled their winning pct. to a still very meager .282.  This is bad enough still for dead last in the American league 3.5 games behind the Astros and the Angels.  However, over in the senior circuit, (just one of many colorful monikers for the National League) both the Rockies and the Marlins have so far under performed the underperforming Southsiders.  

The Rockies own the worst winning percentage in the majors at .243 and while the Marlins are slightly better percentage wise at .250 they are still a 1/2 game behind Colorado in the standings by virtue of having played 3 more games than the Rockies at this point,

As it stands at 11:00 p.m. central time on May 10th, The White Sox are 1.5 games ahead of the Marlins and 1 game ahead of Colorado.  This is a tight margin, and but by the end of play Sunday, the White Sox could again hold the worst record in all of baseball.

One thing the Sox have not been able to do this year about a quarter way through the season is win a game when on a 1 game losing streak.  The Sox are 0-6 when on a 1 game losing streak, 1-5 after losing 2 in a row, 0-5 when on a 3 game slide, and just 2-3 the game after losing 4 in a row.  If the Sox even want to battle for mediocre they need to eschew losing streaks of more than 3 games.  So far the Sox have lost 4 or more in a row on 5 different occasions. 

I am not very hopeful that the White Sox can turn things around this year.  But for a team that started the season 2-13, an 8-7 run like the one they are on now is definitely a step in the right direction.

Poetry Alive 2024

In late December 2022, my daughter told me about  a poetry group that  met the first Monday of the month.  She and I went in January both enjoyed it so we have been attending ever since.  The group meets both in person ad remotely.  Emma and I have only attended in person so far.

The structure of the group is that the poets share any poems they are working on the the moderator leads us through the theme of the week and then gives us a prompt to work on.  After the group is finished composing, they share the work they just completed.  n

In 2023 several poets shared one poem about Elgin, the city I live in, o Valentines Day. Our group was asked to participate in that.  In April of last year we all participated in a event called Poetry Alive where we all read several of our poems at a  public meeting.  My daughter chose not to participate last year i the event but went with the rest of our family to see me read.

Many of the poems I have submitted for Poetry Friday have bee written during or shared at our monthly poetry meetings .  For today's Poetry Friday I would like to present the You Tube video of the 2024 Poetry Alive presentation.  This year Emma participated as well.  We are the 2nd and 3rd poets.  There were 4 rounds of recitations.  Poetry Alive 2024 took place on the night of my 26th wedding anniversary, so in honor of the occasion, I adapted a song I wrote for her into a poem and recited it in the third round.Poetry Friday is hosted this week by Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise.