Weather Worries

Snow Day

The storm that passed through the Bluffs on Monday night was merely annoying, but Winter Storm Niko
is currently hitting the eastern part of the country much harder.

My best friend Skip lives just a little west of Philadelphia, so I was pretty worried, but the storm impact there was relatively mild compared with points north and east.

"I'm guessing he won't be grilling on his deck any time soon?"

Seems pretty unlikely...

Hot Stove League

Mills in 2016

My beloved Kansas City Royals announced another trade yesterday, with pitcher Alec Mills being sent to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for outfielder Donnie Dewees.

This is just the latest sign that the organization is finally throwing in the towel on Bubba Starling, the former No. 1 draft pick who simply can't hit even AAA pitching.

"And instead of him, they could have drafted...?"

Oh, nobody...just All-Stars Francisco Lindor, Sonny Gray, Jackie Bradley, Jr., and
Joe Panik, as well as promising slugger George Springer (65 home runs in just his first three seasons), and even (ironically enough), the late Cy Young candidate and All-Star José Fernández...

Wild Kingdom Bed & Breakfast Update

The "bed" part of the B&B has always been a small cardboard box I have kept in a corner of my patio during the winter for two years now, with a blanket inside it.

The original box finally gave up the ghost recently, and its replacement went into service yesterday.

In all the time I have had a box
out there I have only actually seen it used a couple of times. Still,
I know that cats in my vicinity have spent some cold nights there, and that is all I need to know...

"You really ought to charge them rent."

That would hardly be in the spirit of St. Francis now, would it?

It's a Losing Battle, Mom

From the wry comic strip Zits, by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman, which you should read every day, as I do.

Until Next Time...

The number of television programs that employ current popular music in addition to conventional musical scoring has grown exponentially over the past 15 years or so, and the practice is so widespread now that people assume TV shows were always this way. Those of us who've been around the block a few more times know better.

One upside of this development was my discovery of songs and bands I might never otherwise have encountered. I owe a lot to shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, The Sopranos, House, M.D., and others which brought that music into my life. A fair number of songs I found that way even wound up being used in my play productions. Thanks in no small part to its longevity, the crime drama Bones has probably contributed more to my music collection than any other show.

Episode 16 of the show's first season, "The Woman in the Tunnel," was first broadcast
on March 22, 2006. It featured a song that became a major earworm for me. I saw the episode in reruns yesterday, and it had the same effect, which is how it wound up being featured here today.

The English electronic music duo Syntax has to date released only
a single album, Meccano Mind. Released in 2004, it was a dud
in terms of sales. It did, however, contain some songs that were good enough to wind up in a variety of other media formats.

"Pride," the song that Bones turned into such an earworm for me, had actually been used on TV shows  
The O.C. and Nip/Tuck even earlier, and was later used on the shows Law & Order: Criminal Intent and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Today's send-off is the original full-length album track, from the band's YouTube channel. Enjoy...