Dave Out Loud: Undecided, Undeclared, Unsure Day

Now that the A to Z challenge for 2024 is in it's final hour and my final post dropped early this morning. I think it's apprropiate to go back to 2024 where my theme was holidays especially manufactured ones. On the vowel days I let the vowels pitch me ideas for holidays with their letter in it. This is what U came up with...

We are celbrating the 2nd Undecided Undeclare Unsure Day today. I'll be back soon with a reflection post from the challenge.

Z is for Zoo Afficianado

My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day.  Today's letter is Z so let's get right to it shall we?

A was for Amateur Parodist

B was for Blogger

C was for Christian

D was for David Davidovich

E was for Evangelical Sans the Trump Kool-Aid

F was for Father of 3 Adult Children

G was for Giraffe Lover

H was  for Husband of One Amazing Wife

I was for Iguchi Appreciator

J was for Jester

K was  for Kindergarten Clear

L was for Library Lover

M is for Muppet Man

N was for Narnian

O was for Optimist

P was for Poet

Q is for Quintessential Worker

R was for R.I.T.A. Republican In Theory Anyway

S was for Stonehill Fan

T was for Teacher

U was for U of I Parent

V was for Voracious Reader?

 

W was for White Sox Fan

X was for Xenophile

Y is for Yankovic Enthusiast

Z is for Zoo Aficionado

 Today is the last day of the challenge and to wrap things up here is Dave Out Loud reporting from the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicag Illinois.  

Here are some zoo pics from the last year or so

R.I.P.O Rhino In Photo Only 

Indianapolis Zoo  September 2025

Indianapolis Zoo September 2025

St. Louis Zoo March 2024

Lincoln Park Zoo Aoril 2025

Lincoln Park Zoo April 2025

 

Amur Leopard March 2024
St. Louis Zoo

Lincoln Park Zoo April 2024

That's it we've got a polar bear catching some Z's at the Zoo.  No better way to leave an A to Z challenge than that. It's been a pleasure and I'll be back soon for a reflection post.

To get to the A to Z Challenge webpage click here.  

To see the A to Z Master List click here. 

 

Y is for Yankovic Enthusiast

 

My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day.  Today's letter is Y so let's get right to it shall we?

 A was for Amateur Parodist

B was for Blogger

C was for Christian

D was for David Davidovich

E was for Evangelical Sans the Trump Kool-Aid

F was for Father of 3 Adult Children

G was for Giraffe Lover

H was  for Husband of One Amazing Wife

I was for Iguchi Appreciator

J was for Jester

K was  for Kindergarten Clear

L was for Library Lover

M is for Muppet Man

N was for Narnian

O was for Optimist

P was for Poet

Q is for Quintessential Worker

R was for R.I.T.A. Republican In Theory Anyway

S was for Stonehill Fan

T was for Teacher

U was for U of I Parent

V was for Voracious Reader?

 

W was for White Sox Fan

X was for Xenophile

Y is for Yankovic Enthusiast

Way back on April Fool's day when I was posting about my being an amateur parodist I mentioned a little about Weird Al and his influence on me.  Today I will be sharing 10 videos of some of my favorite Yankovic songs.  They range from his national T.V. debut on the Tomorrow show to a video my friend Patrick (a hardcoreYankophile) recorded to  concert footage from Amsterdam.  

Some of these may not be among my top 10 favorite Yankovic songs which is one of the reasons why I am not numbering them or ranking them. 

Word Crimes

Ebay

Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota

Another One Rides The Bus

Ode To A Superhero

Hamilton Polka

Don't Download This Song

It's Still Billy Joel To Me

Yoda

The Saga Begins

That's all I have for my penultimate entry in the ABC's of me.

To get to the A to Z Challenge webpage click here.  

To see the A to Z Master List click here.  

Coming up: Dave's taking us to the zoo tomorrow.

X is for Xenophile

 My A to Z Challenge Theme this year is the ABC's of me.  Each day in the month of April with the exception of Sundays I will be posting about one aspect of my life that begins with the letter of the day.  Today's letter is X so let's get right to it shall we?

 A was for Amateur Parodist

B was for Blogger

C was for Christian

D was for David Davidovich

E was for Evangelical Sans the Trump Kool-Aid

F was for Father of 3 Adult Children

G was for Giraffe Lover

H was  for Husband of One Amazing Wife

I was for Iguchi Appreciator

J was for Jester

K was  for Kindergarten Clear

L was for Library Lover

M is for Muppet Man

N was for Narnian

O was for Optimist

P was for Poet

Q is for Quintessential Worker

R was for R.I.T.A. Republican In Theory Anyway

S was for Stonehill Fan

T was for Teacher

U was for U of I Parent

V was for Voracious Reader?

 

W was for White Sox Fan

X is for Xenophile

Xenophile is the antonym of xenophobe. A xenophile is an individual who is attracted to foreign peoples manners or cultures.  I am a xenophile.  The reason I am a xenophile is pretty straight forward.  God is a xenophile.  As an evangelical Christian I try to emulate God.  Generally this is by imitating Christ, however being a xenophile which is certainly a trait of Jesus is also a trait of God the Father.  

Well you might ask how I know God is a xenophile.  I think there are many ways that I know that but I think John 3:16 provides conclusive evidence of my assertion:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV)

 This is the 2nd post I've written this year about John 3:16,  In the first I focused on the love aspect and today's focus is on the world part of the verse.  The Greek word that world is  translated from  is Kosmos.  When it comes to John 3:16 there are many interpretations of what John meant when he used that word.  Two of these interpretations is that world means all of humanity, the other is that world means all of creation. I personally feel that it means the former, however since the latter is all encompassing either definition includes all of humanity.

I have been reading a book about the attributes of God called Knowledge of the Holy. It was written by A.W. Tozer.  Tozer makes it very clear that we are very different than God.  God has always existed. Since God has always existed he was never born and he will never die.   God is all knowing.  Since God is all knowing, he has never learned anything.  There is attribute after attribute of God that shows how different we are from God.  When God says in Isaiah 55:8+9 that my thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways he reiterates that in our fallen state that we are different as different can be from the character of God.  

Yet John 3:16 says that God loves the world.  In fact it says that God loves the world so much that he gave his Son.  That makes God a xenophile as he is attracted to foreign people. their manners and their cultures.  God's love for us transforms us and gives us our identity.  When 1 Peter 2:10 speaks of this transformation  it says once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.  God being a xenophile is the first step in our sanctification.

Emulating God in the matter of being a xenophile is why I went to Russia for two years in the early 1990's.  It is why I studied to be an English teacher.  It is why I always try to speak to people in their own language even if it's just a greeting.  It is why I'm not very interested in the MAGA movement because Isaiah 40:15  says that to God all nations are a drop in the bucket.  I've spent more than enough letters differentiating myself from my country's current president, so I won't go any further on the last point.

One of the difficulties I have had with my  A to Z posts this year is bringing them to an end.  I classified my theme this year as autobiography and autobiography never ends.  At least it doesn't end while I am alive to chronicle it.  In the same way these alphabetical glimpses of me are just autobiography in progress.  There is certainly more I can say about being am xenophile and there is more I can live that will further define my view. If my view on this or any other subject seem incomplete it is because I am a work in progress.

To get to the A to Z Challenge webpage click here.  

To see the A to Z Master List click here.  

Coming up: Things Get Weird

 

 

W is for White Sox Fan

I grew up in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.  

We were a family of Cubs fans.  We went to our annual pilgrimage to Wrigley Field each year. My first baseball glove has the cubs logo in the mitt (I still have it by the way). 

I may have stayed a Cubs fan forever if it hadn't been for these three men:

Ray Rayner

 

Dave Roller

This is the story of how a Children's T.V. host, a baseball player and my own father led me to more than 50 years of White Sox allegiance.

Ray Rayner hosted a television show on WGN TV when I was a kid. He had several regular bits he would do on the show: he would feed a duck named Chelveston while he played a popular song (where I ffirst heard American Pie), He would have a  regular visit with Lester Fisher (the director of the Lincoln Park Zoo), He would visit a puppet named Cuddly Duddly at his dog house, and in between these bits he would be a disc jocker for cartoons, (mostly Warner Brothers).  

His role in making me a Sox fan was when he would do the daily traffic and sports reports.  Equipped with a Cubs cap with a White Sox cap sewed in the back of it.  He would show the results of the previous day's baseball games.  He would switch the sides of the cap depending on which team he was reporting on.  This gave me as a child the notion that in Chicago you could like both teams.

Ray Rayner reporting on a Cubs  victory while wearing the Cubs end of his Cubs/Sox cap.

The 2nd person most responsible for me switching my favorite team from the Cubs to the Sox was my Dad.  When I was growing up the White Sox would offer 2 tickets to grade school students who either had straight A's or perfect attendance for the year.  One  l year my sister, who was the year ahead of me  achieved straight A's.  She won the two tickets and My Dad took her to a game to see the White Sox play the Baltimore Orioles.  My sister was 15 months older than me, and I had a brother 18 months younger than me.  By that time I had another brother who was still a toddler.  1 on 1 time alone with my Dad was not really something any of us kids ever got on a regular basis.  So when my Dad took Kathy to a game, I knew that was something I wanted to do as well.  When school restarted in the Fall, I was determined to win a pair of free White Sox tickets to get 3 to 5 hours alone with my Dad.  That year was the only year in my academic career that I ever had perfect attendance.  The next summer My father and I attended my first White Sox game.

Dick Allen only played 3 years on the South side but he made his presence know in a major way.  He hit 85 homes runs in those 3 years and a batting  average over .300 and the best slugging percentage of all baseball.  I remember him hitting at least 1 home run at the game we went to,  I was a White Sox fan after that.  Even without the free tickets my Dad continued to take me to at least 1 game a year through high school.  Dick Allen was my White Sox hero, but certainly not my last.  One of my Cubs hero's Don Kessinger finished his career with the White Sox as a player manager.  Carlton Fisk who was one of my favorite players on an opposing teem came to the White Sox as a free agent when I was in high school.  Wilbur Wood, Bill Melton. Bucky Dent. Jorge Orta. Harold Baines, and the list goes on and on.  Dick Allen died a few years ago but was finally elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame by the Veteran's committee and he will be inducted this year.  

When I think of the White Sox I think back of the 5o+ years of memories I have watching them.  Going to games with my Dad and taking my kids to the games.  Next Saturday I am taking my wife to the White Sox game.  They just happen to be giving away Dick Allen Hall of Fame bobble heads.  My favorite team, my favorite player and my favorite person in the world.  I don't care If I never get back.

V is for Voracious Reader?

A to Z Challenge 2025

The ABC's of Me

V 

Voracious Reader

On April 10, 2017 I started a blog called Writer's Write Readers Read Bloggers Blog.  It was one of many transition blogs I did in between this blog being a home school blog a whatever it is now blog. In my first post at WWRRBB I admitted not having written for a while and how I needed to rectify that.  

Although that particular blog didn't last long, I have been writing faiirly regularly since 2017.  I also said in that post:

I also need to read more. Reading informs and prepares the writer.  I have finished one book this year and that was on January 7th.  I need to make time in the day for it.  I mean how much Netflix can one guy watch?  That's not a rhetorical question, I need answers!!!!

The truth is  I also have read quite a bit since 2017.  In the past couple of years I have struggled in reading.  While I still read a lot of blog posts my book reading is not what it once was.  Like the above example I have only finished 1 book this year. 

April of course is  not a great month to finish books.  I still enjoy reading and I count listening to books as reading.  I have a number of books I have started this year and just  need to dig back in and get some finished.

Here are some of my favorite types of books to read:

Familiar books. I mentioned in my N post that I generally read the Chronicles of Narnia each year.   The past 2 years I have not done that.  It's not that I've grown tired of them.  I'm pretty sure I will never grow tired of them.  Some people don't like reading books  or watching movies over and over.  I can understand and appreciate that.  But foe me rereading books or watching movies again is like visiting friends.  

Familiar authors. This would not only extend to reading  more books by beloved authors, but also reading book about those authors,  or fiction books about those authors or those authors characters.  For example Stephanie Barron has written a number of mysteries s featuring Jane Austen. as the protagonist. One of the books that I started this year and haven't got very far in yet is a book about  a present day woman who discovers letters from one of her ancestors in her attic.  The ancestor? Jo March the protagonist of Little Women.

Children's Books.  Why? Because I was a child and my love for books started when I was a child.  Because I am a parent and I loved reading to my children.  I was literally reading to them before they were born.  Because I am a teacher and I love reading to children because adults in school read to me which increased my love for books.  

Mysteries. I don't like all mysteries, but some of my favorite authors like David Rosenfelt, Bill Pronzinni, and Dorothy L. Sayers write masterful mysteries.

Recommendations from a variety of sources - These sources include but are not limited to book lists, podcasts, bloggers, movies I have seen, books or characters referenced in others books or films.  I started reading Louis Lamour books because Allen Levi wrote a song entitled The Reason I Read Louis Lamour

I like writing about reading. It reminds me why I love to read.  The blogging challenge is almost over and perhaps then I can start a reading challenge of my own.