Category: five things

1.

Ahhh yes. O’s are on a 5-game winning streak with a nice come-from-behind win at home vs. the Tigers. Those games vs. the Twins were really fun to watch.

2.

So much for the DH. Mets pitchers are mashing.

3.

Disappointed that Agent Carter got cancelled.

As much as I enjoy the MCU movies and TV shows that take place in the current day, I enjoyed seeing Carter take on the bad guys without helicarriers, Quinjets, teams of super smart scientists, and powered people around to help.

Plus I very much enjoyed the Dr. Wilkes character.

ABC didn’t pick up the Bobbi and Hunter spinoff, either. Hopefully, they’ll show back up on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Fortunately, Supergirl got picked up for CW. It should have been there from the beginning.

4.

Shocking development: Scrivener for iOS has moved into beta testing. They first announced this app a few years ago and writers –myself included– have been waiting. The wait might be over by the summer.

@tgshepherdvan @upgradestory Not yet https://t.co/QN6IbsFyER, but we're hoping we'll be there or thereabouts during July! 🙂 Best, DJ.

— Scrivener (@ScrivenerApp) May 10, 2016

I still use Scrivener for Windows for this blog and my other writing projects. That and Google Drive, since there isn’t any Scrivener for ChromeOS.

However, they are talking about an Android version in the future …

@ariebagusbagus @upgradestory Soon there will be a version on iOS available. We'll then be using that version as a template for Android. 😉

— Scrivener (@ScrivenerApp) May 10, 2016

… and with Android and ChromeOS possibly converging soon, who knows what the future holds with writing on my Chromebook.

5.

And people are still driving up to it towards the end of the video.

Before they took Weather Channel off the cable, Storm Chasers was a major guilty pleasure. If you’re into big storms and tech porn, that’s the show for you. They’d load up in these vehicles –sometimes specially fortified vehicles– with cameras, laptops, sometimes tablets, and head out.

They’d use GPS to go find tornadoes, sometimes going between states to get the shot to sell to Weather Channel and whoever else buys those pictures. One episode, they got too close and were debating hanging out in a fast food restaurant freezer.

And that’s one of the reasons why I couldn’t ever do that. As much as I’d love to drive around with a laptop (and probably also a tablet) mounted in the car and maybe get pictures from a mile or so away, what’s depicted in that video is way too intense. It takes a different breed of person to get that close to a killer storm on purpose. Same for the storm chasing scientists who work the same way. And for the pilots and meteorologists who fly into tropical cyclones on purpose.

1.

O’s won the series with the Yankees, but I was really hoping for the sweep. The further under .500 the Yankees are, the more comical their fans are when they call in on the radio.

Plus, with the back of their bullpen being what it is, the more losses they take early, the better. Seasons are never decided in April or early May, but if they do hit that hot streak in June or July, it’s better the further they have to go to catch up.

Especially with that back of the bullpen. It’s like that 2014 Royals bullpen.

2.

What is up with Matt Harvey? I’m sure he’ll snap out of it, but he doesn’t seem to be all there in some way.

What is up with the Mets hitting all these home runs? Certainly a pleasant surprise.

What is up with the Royals? I thought they’d do us a solid by at least taking 2/3 from the Nats. Guess not. They can redeem themselves in my eyes by putting it down on the Yankees next week.

3.

To answer the popular question from the beginning of the week: yes, I was pleased with the Ravens’ draft. Oz is usually right more often than not, it seems, so I never sweat it. Some folks like to go back and look at picks like Matt Elam and Courtney Upshaw (I enjoyed his tenure in Baltimore, but he ended up not being enough of a pass rusher I guess), but look at the last few drafts and who’s contributed along the defensive line and who stepped up last season on offense with all the injuries. At this point, I’m expecting nothing less than the same, especially on defense.

4.

I wasn’t surprised the Ravens pulled Laremy Tunsil off their board immediately after the video and pictures hit social media. This is the same team that cut Bernard Pierce mere hours after a DUI arrest in Baltimore County. Arrest. Not conviction. They cut Terrence Cody after his animal cruelty charges (but in their defense, he had one foot out the door based on performance as it was) came out, too.

Since the fallout from the Ray Rice situation, the Castle has been highly sensitive to the team’s public image. If they were willing to cut one of their own as quickly as they did Pierce, there was no way they were going to take Tunsil, since they were about to pick and had no time to dig deeper into the story and find out the video was old and someone was releasing all of this on draft day, seemingly to destroy the kid.

They say they had Stanley rated higher than Tunsil and only they know for sure. But I’m pretty sure that if there had been a chance they would take him while they were on the clock, as soon as the picture came out of him in the gas mask bong, that chance evaporated.

However, NFL Network had the time to let the story unfold before allowing their talking heads like Mike Mayock pass judgment on the kid without knowing the whole story. At least Mayock backtracked on his comments later in the night.

The rest of them sure didn’t. I wonder if they’ll all be cheering for the more famous and local Baltimore weed connoisseur, Michael Phelps, as he represents the whole country in the Olympics in a few weeks, though.

Oh, and according to Kevin Byrne, Ozzie reads tweets from college players. Kids, if you think you have a shot at playing pro football, watch what you say on the Tweeter, okay?

5.

What a mess.

1.

Catherine Pugh won the Democratic primary for Mayor of Baltimore. So, it’s very likely she’s going to be the next mayor. Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is already pledging to work with her to make the transition go well.

Deray didn’t get many votes, but hopefully the long-term effect of his candidacy is the involvement of more of Baltimore’s youth in the political process as well as other means of change and empowerment. Baltimore must find ways to include more people in its growth and prosperity. It can’t just be concentrated in Southeast Baltimore without the same sort of unrest we saw last year happening again.

I was happy to see my old classmate, Elizabeth Embry, polled at 12%. Given that this was her first time running and that she didn’t have the same recognition coming in as Ms. Pugh and Ms. Dixon, she did really well. I think she could win in a future run at the office if she stays visible. 12% might not seem like much, but Ms. Dixon had people waiting to vote for again at the time she left office the last time. To do well against that kind of support is really impressive, especially in Baltimore.

2.

On the anniversary of last year’s unrest/uprising, Baltimore police shoot a 13-year old with a BB gun.

3.

Tomorrow night is round 1 of the NFL Draft 2016. I’m still unsure who the Ravens will pick, but I’m fairly certain the first pick will be made in current slot and it will be a defensive player.

One thing I am 100% sure of: I’m glad I’m not a Browns fan. Or an Eagles fan. Two things.

4.

Lifting again. It’s fun and I feel good after, but I miss the old days, lifting in Mr. Scott’s back yard. Lifting in the weight room at school. I’m going to write more about this one of these days.

5.

The writing is going really well in the class, still. Unfortunately, this is the last week. I’m going to miss being in such an environment, but the class has given me lots of material to build on and means to develop more and keep myself going. I’m going to do another bootcamp when I can.

I guess after not posting for a month, posting today would seem like a late April Fool’s joke. No such intent. No, I just took an unscheduled break from blogging and some of my other writing.

Call it writer’s block or not, depending on whether you believe in it or you don’t, sometimes a writer can go through a rough or fallow patch and output dwindles. For one reason or another.

Fortunately, my online class started this past Monday and I’ve been writing like mad since last week. One big thing I’ve learned about myself is I write well under deadline. I’ve also regained more of the sense of fun I used to have writing. I even managed to scrawl a couple of fresh, first draft poems.

I’ve also journalled more this past week than usual. I had been confining my journalling to first thing in the morning. Now, I’m writing in my journal in the evenings and at work when I’m taking a lunch break. Which is good because my writing is a small slice of nirvana in the work-a-day cycle I’m in.

—

Five (other) things since I’ve last posted:

1.

It’s baseball season again. Thank God. O’s won this evening on a walk-off single by Matt Wieters. If he keeps it up, he may get that $30M contract for the Yankees this fall after all.

Opening night with the Mets wasn’t as good. In fact, it was like the World Series never ended. It had all the elements:

1. A Mets fielding error that leads to a run(s)
2. Harvey struggling immediately after the error
3. Met inability to hit Royals pitching
4. Mets coming back to within one run late
5. Royals winning in the end

Thor will be back on the mound tomorrow, so hopefully there will be a better outcome. And if not, it’s all good. The Mets will open their 2016 home campaign vs. the Phillies this weekend.

2.

Read a really good article just today about Oriole Park at Camden Yards, with pictures of some of the early renditions of the ballpark. They were tossing around the idea for a multipurpose stadium at Port Covington as well other ideas. One of those is from the 70s. Wonder how things would have gone had they built that multipurpose stadium.

I am happy with the stadium(s) we ended up getting; unfortunately, the processes to get them done were painful for a lot of sports fans.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-orioles-camden-yards-0404-20160404-story.html

3.

I’ve been watching college basketball, still. Not as much since the Maryland women got upset by Washington and the men ran into the Jayhawks, though.

I am getting sick of these Kansas/Kansas City teams beating my favorite teams. Royals will host the O’s in a few weeks. Hoping for the right outcome, the outcome of the birds winning.

4.

Looks like the mayoral race back home has become a two-person race between Sheila Dixon and Catherine Pugh. I expected Dixon to have a larger lead this close to the primary with Pugh still in 2nd. It may come down to the wire. Deray is around but in the pack with the others. He undoubtedly has access to a lot of money, but Ms. Dixon, for certain, started off with more people.

The general election should be far less interesting. Part of me hopes that one or two of the people in the Democratic primary decide to make a go as an independent in the general election.

5.

I’ve been accepted to a writers’ conference later this summer. Still have applications out for two more.

1

My Chromebook is back to life.

I ordered a new screen, but the one I received didn’t work. So, I had to order another one and send back the original. The second one worked, fortunately. Since I’d already taken apart the machine by the time it got here, all I had to do was connect the new screen, screw it in place, put the bezel back on the machine. Back in business.

Easy for me to say, some of my coworkers might think if they’re reading this. But here’s more or less what I did:

Just follow the video and you’re cool. You don’t have to have been working in IT forever to do this. And it doesn’t take long.

And it’s definitely worth it. I use my Chromebook most often to write –I’m writing this on it– because of the really nice keyboard. I’m still getting often between 6-7 hours of usage from it when I’m not watching video (I will watch video on it while it’s charging because I’m obviously not killing the battery).

2.

Reading and very much enjoying Dear Mister Essay Writer Guy. So far, I’ve learned I’m too serious in my writing. I need to have more fun, write longer about more fun topics. It’s not life and death. It’s just life.

3.

Supposed to be really cold over the next few days.

4.

Last night, the talking heads on MLB Network were discussing the exit velocity of balls batted by various players around the league. Looks like MLB Network is full-on sabermetrics. Which is cool and I’ll be playing the home game this spring and summer, but I need to remember to turn it off sometimes and just enjoy the games.

Watching a full baseball game is still a great pleasure. Always has been. Never changed. But I can’t talk baseball with just anybody anymore. I’ve met a few folks who only want to dig so deeply into the stats and their arguments that I wonder if they actually enjoy baseball or really enjoy statistics or argumentation and their chosen outlet for those is baseball.

It’s cool if that’s their thing. I just don’t share their passion. As much as we can look into every stat to discern what we think might have happened or what might happen (and it is often fun, just not all the time), I enjoy the poetry and drama and spectacle of baseball as much. People who understand and appreciate those, as well as the numbers, are the people I want share baseball with now and in the future. Otherwise, the joy of baseball quickly leaves.

5.

I’m working on a short piece about Earth, Wind, and Fire, and how their music has been part of my life. Obviously related to the recent passing of Maurice White, the band’s co-founder.

1.

And calamity befalls my poor Chromebook again. I opened up my little workhorse machine to do this exact entry and again, the screen was cracked. And again, I have no clue how it happened. So, just as I did just before Christmas, I ordered a replacement, which will be here in a few days, and I’ll fix the thing. Fortunately, it’s very easy. There are a couple of videos that show how to repair the thing. Easy.

In the meantime, the things that I want to write are delayed a day or so, now. I’m just glad I had other options available at the ready.

2.

There was a time when I wouldn’t even have a thought of replacing a laptop screen. I broke my older HP’s screen circa 2009. I left it laying next to me when I went to sleep and rolled on top of it. I had to send it back to get them to put a new screen on.  

When I got it back, the machine back, the screen was still acting up. I had to send it back a second time. That time, they replaced the motherboard and the screen. Never have had another problem with it, but all that back and forth was frustrating.

I even went and got a new set of computer tools for the job.

3.

They’re calling for snow for next week. Done with it.

4.

Yay, it’s Black History Month. Back in the day, this was the very time of year that we’d learn about Dr. King and if we were lucky, Malcolm X. Not that we got lucky often. But we’d learn about some other fine folks in between, so it wasn’t all bad.

We had Great Blacks in Wax back then, but not the Reginald Lewis Museum. That would come much later. This generation’s school kids will have the National African American History Museum by the end of the year, which is great.

However, I have a proposal.

Let’s not study any Black history. Let’s not let another February go by with kids and young people learning that racism and inequality are things of the past when they’re still present these days.

Okay, maybe that’s too much. Sure, spend a lesson on the I Have A Dream speech, but In addition, have conversations around situations like Ferguson and the Laquan McDonald and Freddie Gray killings. Have a conversation about the two Baltimores (and no, neither of them is one from the Wire. I’m talking about the real thing). I’m not the only one that refers to the “Real” Baltimore as being the one outside of the Inner Harbor.

Progress has been made, for sure. But there is still a way to go. Have a conversation about where we go from here because looking back into the past and thinking the conditions that people like Langston Hughes and James Baldwin and Audre Lorde and Angela Davis lived through and fought have not entirely abated.

5.

Super Sunday is in a few days. It’s cool. I’m looking forward to baseball season.

1.

Well, there’s this.

White actor Joseph Fiennes to play Michael Jackson in new show. And no, this is not a joke. https://t.co/fpnN2Y9UeA pic.twitter.com/tlh4Wp2haI

— The Root (@TheRoot) January 27, 2016

If this is how things are going to be, I want to at least play Father Flynn in Doubt.

Thankfully, there’s this:

.@SpikeLee spoke with us about why he chose to only highlight MJ's brilliance in new doc: https://t.co/Fu3vK5RKGP pic.twitter.com/JAysJAiaGw

— The Root (@TheRoot) January 28, 2016

2.

I was ready for baseball season before the Mets re-signed Yoenis Cespedes.

My hope is that the Mets are this year’s Royals. Year before last, the Royals lost a grueling series vs the Giants and Madison Bumgartner. Last year, with a year of postseason experience behind them, they came back to the postseason and finished. They really have to win it all before it’s time for all the young pitchers to get huge contracts. They will get them, but they won’t all be getting them from the Mets.

3.

On this date in 2001, the Baltimore Ravens won their first Super Bowl. I actually watched the game in Giants territory, so the celebration was muted until I got on the train back to Baltimore. I was ready to begin celebrating at halftime and after the Jermaine Lewis TD return.

That game, that season, especially with the accomplishments of the defense, are what began the mystique of the Ravens in Baltimore. It helped begin to put into the past another product of the NFL’s often cutthroat and shameful relocation process — it began to heal the anger from the 1984 event that would eventually lead to Baltimore being represented by the Ravens. These days, talk to younger fans and much of the passionate anger is directed towards teams like the Steelers and the Patriots. These are feelings borne of events that have taken place on the field, not because of shady back room dealings, which is how it should be.

Those of us older fans, who knows? I still talk to people about the original Gino’s and the old Golden Arm Restaurant on York Road. When I sing the fight song at Ravens games, I sing it with both the original Colts and updated Ravens lyrics. Plus, I’m planning on buying this one of these days.

4.

On this date in 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke up over Cape Canaveral. We watched at school like many other school children in the country. Even at that age, I could feel hope and excitement people all over felt because of STS-51. And in the aftermath, the pain and confusion and in some ways, the uncertainty.

It’s one of those events like the 9/11 and the 2008 Presidential Election Night that sticks with me and probably in the minds of many who experienced them.

5.

Found this the other day. Had to share.

Five Things – 24 January 2016

Didn’t do a Five Things the past couple of weeks. Lots of reasons I could use as excuses, but in the end, I didn’t make the decision to sit down and do them. But we need to move on, so a special weekend Five Things.

1.

I hate snow. I could never overstate how much I hate snow and this weekend, we have #Blizzard2016 all over the east coast. Back home, the word is snow plows might not get to most places until sometime Monday. In some places in my neck of the woods, we might be lucky to see a plow at all. One of those winters, there simply was no plowing done by local government. None. I was anticipating having a 3 day weekend, but since I won’t, I won’t be going outside and frolicking like this guy:

Tian Tian woke up this morning to a lot of snow, and he was pretty excited about it. 🐼🌨 #blizzard2016 pic.twitter.com/GrhI9t1u7j

— National Zoo (@NationalZoo) January 23, 2016

That is, however, how I plan to act when I get into a pool this summer and if the Ravens win the Super Bowl a year from now. Perhaps even if it does snow.

2.

I was listening to Mike Francesa on Friday afternoon and he remarked that the news stations love snow. Snow gets viewers and listeners tuned in. People hear snow and they panic and they get glued to information.

As usual, I fell victim to the hype and watched a bunch of snow coverage — lots of local news, CNN, and AccuWeather, since FiOS doesn’t have the Weather Channel anymore. I miss Weather Channel. AccuWeather isn’t as good. They’re just a continuous loop of the same exact information, with a different meteorologist reading it, over and over again. At least Weather Channel breaks things up with people stationed locally to show how things are on the ground.

I was wondering what was missing with this storm and it was Jim Cantore. I didn’t get to see where the world was ending from, as I wasn’t able to see where Jim Cantore was. CNN was down at the Jersey Shore and they got some shots of local flooding there, to satisfy the storm porn fix. Fortunately, they only had some beach erosion there and no loss of life.

This video from Ocean City, NJ was worth a 5 on the Winter Storm Porn-O-Meter.

I can’t find the video from the police car. In that one, the water sloshing up onto the windshield gives it an 8.

3.

No thundersnow. Forecasters had said to expect some, but I either missed it or it never materialized. That was the only part of the storm I was looking forward to. I talk about my love of thundersnow in a post from last year.

4.

Often on sale on Groupon is the Nexus 7 (2013) Wi-Fi. I have the 2012 version of the slate, which will no longer be receiving any more OS upgrades, just security updates. The 2013 version has better hardware, is already on Marshmallow and with it priced low, it’s seemed like a good buy.

However, I haven’t pulled the trigger.

Just before #Blizzard2016, I was pretty much set to order one; then I decided I wanted the 4G/LTE variant. I figured if the power went off, it was good to have another device that didn’t require Wi-Fi to get online. Hurricane Sandy drives that decision-making. During Sandy, I had no Wi-Fi and I had to use the relatively weak signal from my phone to stay connected. I’d rather hedge my bets and be able to use either.

The LTE version is around $50-$100 more than the Wi-Fi only version, on par with newer, albeit, less impressive tablets in cost. Still, the 2013 Nexus holds its own in terms of hardware, except against higher priced Samsung tablets, too. But are those Samsung devices running the latest version of Android?

Regardless of how enticing the price and value are, 2013 is 3 years ago and I keep reading that Marshmallow is the end of the line for updates for this slate. Unlike the 2012, which I’m still using, the 2013 would likely be a shorter relationship, maybe even just a year. Rumors say Google will be releasing a refreshed Nexus 7 this year.

I wish the NVidia Shield K1 had LTE.

5.

Unexpected things on championship Sunday. I thought the Cardinals/Panthers game would be much closer. Thought the Patriots would beat the Broncos pretty easily.

But Cam and the Panthers offense had their way with the Cardinals defense. DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller played most of the game in the Pats backfield. Reminded me of Super Bowl 42, how much they stayed in Brady’s face.

I do fall into the “anybody but the Patriots” camp, with some caveats (Steelers and Indy didn’t make me have to think about it), so I’m happy no matter who wins the game. But I am pulling for Cam and the Panthers. Cam has gotten a lot of undue criticism for his style of play, his celebrations, and any other bullshit some people have seen fit to say. And we know why this nonsense has come his way. So I’m happy to see him shut up his detractors in the biggest game of the year.

I love Cam Newton. I can't wait for him to dab on all y'all racist ass hoes during the Super Bowl. I hope he milly rocks on y'all asses.

— Steph BMore (@StephBMore) January 25, 2016

Also, for what it’s worth, as a Ravens fan, I do owe a debt of gratitude to Panthers owner Jerry Richardson. As part of the 20th Anniversary of the Ravens, WBAL Radio interviewed former Maryland Stadium Authority head John Moag, who discusses the role Jerry Richardson played in Baltimore landing another NFL team.

According to Moag, Richardson mentored him, got him into the room, and helped guide him through the process, with the end result being the Baltimore Ravens.

Also, once upon a time, Jerry Richardson played for the Baltimore Colts and when you’ve played for the Baltimore Colts, you’re always remembered in Baltimore. He didn’t have a long Colts career, but that tends not to matter. He played in Baltimore and that’s often enough for us to love you. That he would later help us get a new team, means he’ll always have some appreciation in the Land of Pleasant Living (at least among those of us in the know what role he played for us).

Even if he’s more known for owning the Panthers. And for dabbing in the locker room.

No, I did not do any of these posts in December. At first, I was just taking a break after November. November was a crazy month. I did a lot of writing. I’m proud of myself for working so much, but I did need a breather. But then …

1.
I was hospitalized for a staph infection. The doctors did throw some terrifying scenarios at me as soon as I got there, but I did indeed survive and without having to be cut open. I’m very grateful. The last thing I wanted was to be put under and cut up, no matter how many painkillers would have been available had they decided to perform surgery.

Being somewhere without access to pen and paper or a laptop or any computer with a keyboard for a few days really sucked. I was happy to get out of there and get back to work. I was close to asking a friend to sneak in a bootable Linux flash drive so I could use one of the hospital computers. It was touch and go. I was getting pretty desperate for a text editor. If I’m concerned I might be hospitalized again, I’m carrying a bag with writing materials and my Chromebook that day.

Still, it wasn’t a wholly bad experience. I got over my fear of needles. They took blood so often and gave me so much antibiotic that I began to become used to it. No brownie points for this, though, as I hope to never go through this again.

Oh and they had some excellent tomato soup. I hated tomato soup when I went in, but now, I love the stuff. I’m a changed man.

2.

After telling myself for probably the last 8 or so years that I’d finally begin to regularly watch basketball, I finally am. I’m catching most of the Maryland Terrapin womens’ games and when I can’t, I’m following online. I still don’t know entirely what terms like “off the dribble” mean or entirely what a point guard does, but I’m learning. It’s a process. I won’t become John Edgar Wideman or anything, but it’s pretty fun. Winning helps, too. I say this with no shame.

Malina Howard leads five #Terps in double figures with 15 points in their #B1G bounce-back victory. #PR1DE pic.twitter.com/6cb2JkuxdI

— Maryland WBB (@umdwbb) January 8, 2016

3.

I’m happy to see Mike Piazza finally make the Hall of Fame. Looking back, he had some impressive accomplishments, especially in light of so many of his contemporaries being linked to steroids. I’m hoping I can go up to Cooperstown for the induction. As a long-term Mets fan, the only thing that could have made this sweeter would be the Mets having won the Series last year.

4.

I’m not even mad about the Ravens 5-11 record. And not just because they beat the Steelers twice and nearly ruined their playoff chances. Injuries obliterated this season. But Joe is already doing his best to get back next year, Suggs wants back and Steve Smith isn’t retiring now after all. The Ravens will be fine. I’m just kicking back and watching the playoffs and getting ready for baseball, now.

5.

Governor Larry Hogan is pledging a few hundred million bucks to tear down vacant houses in Baltimore and replace them with new development. This is a huge thing. I just hope it doesn’t end up only gentrifying these neighborhoods and meaning that the people who live there and most need the help now won’t get it. If this is followed up in the next year or so with a commitment to a real Red Line alternative other than buses, it probably will end up helping those who need the help now in these neighborhoods.