From A to F
Give yourself a letter grade (A, A-, B, B-, C, C-, D, D-, F) on the following. Just the letter grade is requested, but you're free to elaborate.
• Happiness: B
• Being a decent human being: B
• Being serene (calm, peaceful): C-
• Kindness: B
• Anger management: B-
• Creative thinking: A-
• Modesty: B-
• Being an original: B
• Knowing yourself: A-
• Being true to yourself: B-
• Getting along with others: B-
• Liking yourself: B-
• Admitting your flaws: C-
• Self improvement: C
Play ball! I watch a lot of baseball, and one of the standard shots is of fans in the stands enjoying tasty stadium fare. I admit that when I go to the park, I tend to stay pretty traditional: a hot dog and Cracker Jack is fine by me.* But that hardly reflects what's available at my beloved Wrigley Field, or other MLB parks.
As we enter the final month of the season, let's look at the fan favorites at the 13 most-attended ball parks.
1. Los Angeles Dodgers: Dodger Dog. A 10" hot dog that hangs out of the bun on both ends. Served with ketchup, mustard, onions and relish.
2. New York Yankees: Lobel's steak sandwich. Served on a bun, au jus. Yankee fans seem equal parts proud and outraged that their concession offerings are the most expensive in the MLB.
3. San Diego Padres: Quesobirria tacos. With braised short ribs instead of ground beef.
4. Philadelphia Phillies: Philly cheesesteak. Were you surprised?
5. New York Mets: Fuku chicken sandwich. A spicy chicken sandwich named for the restaurant where it originated.
6. Atlanta Braves: Cleanup Burger. A grilled hamburger topped with a fried egg and bacon and served between two waffles. (I admit I'm intrigued.)
7. Chicago Cubs: Buona Beef. Italian beef with hot giardiniera and dripping in au jus. I won't argue with anyone who makes this choice, because it's delicious. But be warned: it's awful messy. You'll need lots of napkins, and your jersey will likely never be the same, no matter how often you wash it.
8. San Francisco Giants: Burrito bowl. Fans report that it's hot in every way, made with fire-roasted salsa and jalapenos.
9. Boston Red Sox: Fenway Frank. Grilled and served on a bun just the way The Babe liked it, with mustard and relish.
10. Houston Astros: McRBI. (Love the name.) A smoked pork rib sandwich on an onion roll.
11. Los Angeles Angels: Chronic Tacos. Mashed potatoes and cheese, topped with lettuce and sour cream, served on a crispy shell.
12. Detroit Tigers: Gyros and/or Greek salad. It's a tie. Apparently it's custom for fans to order both and share.
13. Milwaukee Brewers: Bratchos. Tortilla chips topped with a chopped brat, cheese and sour cream.
Please join us for THURSDAY THIRTEEN. Click here to play along, and to see other interesting compilations of 13 things.
*Though when it comes to my beverages, I'm not so old school. Jimmy Buffett was a Cub fan, so it feels only right to raise a margarita in his honor.
WWW. WEDNESDAY asks three questions to prompt you to speak bookishly. To participate, and to see how other book lovers responded, click here.
PS I no longer participate in WWW.WEDNESDAY via that link because her blog won't accept Blogger comments. I mention this only to save you the frustration I experienced trying to link up.
1. What are you currently reading? Richard Nixon: The Life by John A. Farrell. Here's the thing about Trump: he's so awful that everyone else moves up a notch. Nixon served in wartime even though, as a Quaker, he didn't have to. He never disparaged veterans the way Trump mocked John McCain. He never splashed his visage on the side of federal buildings the way Trump (and authoritarians and dictators) do. He didn't ignore the sovereignty of governors by deploying federal troops onto residential streets. When faced with the end of his Presidency, Nixon somehow managed to avoid leading an armed insurrection on the Capitol. So there's that.
Since the Nixon era now feels like The Good Old Days, I figured it was time to revisit the man and his Presidency. I enjoyed Farrell's fair but unflinching view of Ted Kennedy's life and career, and I hope I'll learn a lot from this book.
This book and I have a conflicted history. My friend Henry bought it for me for Christmas 2017, the last holiday we spent together before his accident changed everything. His friend owned the bookstore and he supported her after Hurricane Irma by giving me a $100 gift certificate. What fun we had that day. Henry couldn't believe I chose a book about Nixon (among others). I finished the Grafton book and the Bobby bio and had begun to read the Nixon book when Henry had his accident and the book – which still had its Key West bookmark – made me too sad. I abandoned both books till now. It's time. I'm going to finish this one and, hopefully, get to Bruce before the year ends.
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| Here is post about the day we bought these books |
2. What did you recently finish reading? Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam by MC Beaton. My response to this addition to the series – #10 of 33 – is mixed. I read these mysteries for more than whodunit. I like Agatha, the deeply flawed, often grumpy heroine who turns to sleuthing because, frankly, she's bored after retiring from PR agency life in London. I like the country life as vividly painted in these books, filled with quaint names and eccentricities and customs and secrets.
In book #9, Agatha went on vacation to a small rural town. Beaton introduced us to a new setting a new cast of characters with affection and specificity, but Agatha herself felt a little "off." She not only didn't feel like the character I got to know, I didn't even like her anymore.
This time around, Agatha is back to being Aggie (God, how she hates being called Aggie!). I'm glad because I missed her. But the setting, the village of Fryfam, feels less charming than weird and goofy. There are too many new characters and none of them is memorable.
I hope when I return to the series for #11, Beaton will address both sides of the equation.
3. What will you read next? I don't know. Nixon is going to take a while.
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F.A.B.
F. Film: What movie or tv show are you watching? Mostly I've been watching Cubs baseball, but I took time out for A Farewell to Arms (1957). I know it's not very good – Hemingway himself panned it – but the war scenes are heart-wrenching and the romance? Rock Hudson is so dreamy it's ridiculous. Really, Brad Pitt looks like canned dog food compared to Rock in this movie.
A. Audio: What are you listening to? Alexa has been playing 1970s-era Sir Paul McCartney for me.
B. Book: What are you reading? Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam. This is the 10th book in the mystery series and I'm about halfway through. I'm happy to say I'm enjoying it. I wasn't crazy about #9 and it's a sad thing when a beloved cozy mystery series lets you down, so this turnaround is welcome.
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I'm not going to bury the lead here: I believe my cat, Roy Hobbs, is going to be OK. But I wish we weren't where we are, and it's causing me considerable stress.
He had dental work Wednesday morning. Two teeth were pulled. Because he is younger and stronger than my Connie Cat, and because she had nine (9!) teeth pulled a couple months ago, I thought his recovery would be easier than hers. I was wrong. Here it is, Thursday evening, and he's still not fine. No interest in food. His balance compromised.
All I've done yesterday and today is look at him. I'm exhausted. I take naps but my sleep is fitful. I've been having nightmares, which is why, when I wake up, I don't feel refreshed.
I don't remember much of the nightmares except that they aren't violent. Just frustrating. I recall bits and pieces of one where someone whose help I need claims not to know me. In another one, I'm squabbling with someone.
I know what's going on. I feel inadequate to provide Roy Hobbs with wise and deft care as he recovers. If I can't hide his meds in his food, I have to jam the pills down his gullet, which upsets him even more, but he won't heal without those prescriptions. I feel like someone else would have better judgement and a surer hand. I'm afraid I'm failing him.
I understand intellectually that I'm probably doing him no harm. If he was in severe pain or seriously struggling, he would hide from me and Connie. He's so happy to be home that he's been purring almost nonstop, enjoys me talking to/petting him, and lets Connie groom him. He's drinking, if not eating. All that is good and important.
But I'm impatient. I want him to be well. I want to do better by him.
"Criminals, not monsters." I saw that Bryan Kohberger is unhappy in prison because the other inmates harass and taunt him. While he's in solitary confinement, the industrious and imaginative prisoners have figured out how to call out to him through the air vents and plumbing (apparently even his toilet is mocking him).
It's hard for me to feel sorry for a man who admitted to killing four unarmed people in the privacy of their own home. But clearly the other prisoners in this maximum security Idaho prison are not angels, either. So I wonder what it is about Kohberger that makes him a particular target for scorn.
Well, it turns out that a common phrase among prisoners is, "We're criminals, not monsters." According to true crime buffs and reporters who cover these cases, some offenders are just too offensive, even for other convicts. Here's a hierarchy – a hall of shame, if you will – of how perpetrators are targeted for tough treatment behind bars.
1. Extensive press coverage. Hello, Mr. Kohberger. Inmates who have been locked up for a long time will happily go out of their way to show celebrities that they aren't so special.
2. Crimes against children. This includes physical crimes and child porn. These inmates are in such danger of abuse that they are often held in protective custody.
3. Snitches. Who wants to live with someone you can't trust? Informants are also often held in protective custody.
4. Sexual predators. Specifically serial offenders. They're considered twisted ("that's what gets you off?") and losers ("can't you get it any other way?"),
5. Crimes against the elderly or disabled. "Too easy" and "pick on somebody your own size."
6. Spousal abuse. Especially if the victim was "the mother of your children."
7. Cruelty to animals. Prisoners often miss the pets they had to leave behind when they were incarcerated. Someone who willingly hurts a dog or cat or other pet has to be psychotic.
8. Prison thieves. Don't steal from your fellow inmates! Retribution will be painful.
9. White collar criminals. These convicts are typically not incarcerated in maximum security institutions. But if they do end up with more violent offenders, they don't get much respect but, on the other hand, they don't face too much harassment, either.
10. Drug dealers. Depends on the case. Unless they were selling to kids, drug dealers are often considered unlucky entrepreneurs and left alone.
11. Drug smugglers. Left alone because they likely have important and useful connections on the outside.
12. Hit men. It was business, not personal. Nobody cares.
13. Organized crime or gang members. Treated with respect, unless they took a plea deal. (See #3.)
WWW. WEDNESDAY asks three questions to prompt you to speak bookishly. To participate, and to see how other book lovers responded, click here.
PS I no longer participate in WWW.WEDNESDAY via that link because her blog won't accept Blogger comments. I mention this only to save you the frustration I experienced trying to link up.
1. What are you currently reading? Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryham by MC Beaton. My girl Agatha begins this story at loose ends. Her neighbor (and great love) James Lacey has left town on an extended vacation didn't even bother to say goodbye. She's bored and anxious in her little Cottswold cottage and believes a change of scenery will help. She recalled that a fortune teller told her that her future and true loves lies in Norfolk, so she decides to pack up the cats and spend autumn about 3 hours away in Norfolk.
She lands in Fryham. It's an odd little town. Very insular. Everyone knows everyone else, so she sticks out like a sore thumb. Weird shit starts happening – items disappear from her rented cottage while unidentified lights flicker in her backyard. None of her new neighbors seem willing to weigh in on, or even acknowledge, these occurrences. No one has gotten dead yet, but it's only a matter of pages, I'm sure.
I enjoy Agatha because she is a lot like me – short tempered, cynical, yet romantic. If I had more money, I'd love to spend my retirement like she's spending hers – taking off on short trips and having adventures. (Though I really don't think I'd like to run into dead bodies everywhere I go.)
2. What did you recently finish reading? JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography by RoseMarie Terenzio and Liz McNeil. John's friends and coworkers remember his life and their relationships.They paint a three-dimensional picture of a complex man. He was impatient and impulsive but driven and self-aware. He was very loyal and kept friends throughout his life, and the vast majority of them were neither wealthy nor celebrities. He suffered three major traumas by the age of 14 – he lost his father, his uncle and his stepfather – and was forced to mourn in public each time. The psychic toll, plus the price of fame and the weight of carrying his father's name, may have contributed to his recklessness. It also imbued him with empathy. I liked him. (Even though his taste in music left me cold.)
This book found me at the right time. It ends with the people who loved him recounting their reaction to his death in real time, and how they've dealt with the aftermath. It was strangely comforting to read of their fury, even 25 years later. The tragic, unvarnished truth is that his bad judgement killed him, his wife and her sister.
In 2024 I lost my friends Henry and John. Henry got drunk and rode his bike through a red light and into the side of a van. John knew he was ill and refused to see a doctor until it was too late. I loved them both so very much and am so very mad at them for leaving me when I still need them. When they didn't have to! Reading the passages from John's friends was cathartic. I was heartened by something a priest said to Ann Freeman, mother of both Carolyn and Lauren Bessette: "God is big enough to handle our anger." I will carry that in my heart.
3. What will you read next?
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1) What do you typically have for breakfast? Chocolate milk.
2) What was your favorite breakfast cereal when you were a kid? Triple Snack. It disappeared from store shelves after a couple years. I guess pouring milk on peanuts was a non-starter in most households. But this little gal loooooved it.
I was happy to find the above clip. I almost thought I'd imagined Triple Snack.
3) Orange juice, tomato juice or cranberry juice? I'm gonna go rogue here and say apple juice.
4) What time is your alarm clock set for? No one time. 7:00 on Tuesdays (for yoga) and 8:00 on days when I work. Before covid, when I worked downtown every day, my alarm was set for 6:00, but I woke up at the same time for so many years I often didn't need the alarm.
5) Do you have any tips for preventing stress and making the morning go more smoothly? Decide what you're going to wear the day before, right down to necklace, watch and earrings.
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