Reader’s Notebook, 1/27/26
The Devils – Joe AbercrombieAnother book that appeared on multiple Best Of lists I scrolled through at the end of 2025. With good reason: it was one of the best books I’ve read in the past year or so. At its core this is your classic quest novel. A teenager is identified as the presumptive heir to a throne that…
Weekend Notes
A cold, snowy weekend that was pretty lazy when we weren’t braving the weather to clear our driveway. Weather The big event of the weekend was the massive winter storm that blew through the eastern half of the US. The snow started at our house around 4:00 Saturday afternoon and didn’t stop until nearly 6:00 Sunday night. Based on the…
Friday Playlist
A different week around our house, leaving less time for music, but I still managed to put a little something together for you to listen to. “Long Live Love” – SugarThe second new song from Sugar dropped this week, along with the reveal of a full tour later this year. They come as close to me as Cincinnati.…
The New Gym
We are three weeks into the New Year and I’ve still not written about an important development that took place over the holidays. I mentioned last fall that we were looking to convert part of our unfinished basement into a workout room. S had an appropriately bougie plan that would fit the rest of our home’s design. We brought in…
The Magical Ending
We moved to Indiana in the summer of 2003. IU basketball was one year past an unexpected run to the national title game, where they lost to Maryland. It seemed like they were coming out of a lean period and would reclaim their place amongst the game’s elite. While not inevitable, it felt like the 2000s could bring another national…
Weekend Notes
I was thinking about putting off the Weekend Notes until tomorrow, given that today is a holiday. Since tonight is kind of a big night for the state of Indiana, I figured it’s better to clear everything out so I can focus on another topic tomorrow. HS Hoops City champs again! For the third straight year we faced arch rivals…
Friday Playlist
The new music really started flowing again this week. At one point my folder of songs to review was crammed with more than 40 tracks. Trying to work through those means a lot of songs got only one play instead of several. As I type this nothing is really planned out for where this playlist will go, so I guess…
Reader’s Notebook, 1/15/26
I started 2026 with two books that were recommended from a couple sources I trust. With mixed results. American Sky – James Grady This novel landed on the best non-fiction list of Steve Donoghue, a poster of tremendous and voluminous year end lists. Thus I was really excited to get to it, described as a muscular, coming-of-age story. It left…
Wednesday Catch Up Notes
A very good Tuesday night in our house. First, the Irish began the City tournament with an expectedly easy, 33-point win. Next, as a nice surprise, KU pounded previously unbeaten Iowa State. Can’t ask for a better evening than that. Rather than dive into those games, I’ll instead share a post I’ve been sitting on for nearly two weeks. I…
Weekend Notes
CFP My goodness! I expected IU to beat Oregon. But like that? A complete ass kicking, the type you expect Alabama or Georgia or Ohio State to put on some feel-good-story team that got a bunch of breaks and stumbled into the playoffs? No, no way could the Hoosiers do that to the Ducks, a team loaded with five star…