adventures / cycling / photo / Wednesday — Comments Off on Always agree to the ‘Let’s go ride bikes!’ sentiment*
30
Sep 20

Always agree to the ‘Let’s go ride bikes!’ sentiment*

Well that debate was something, wasn’t it? About 70 million people watched it last night. And if you watched the debate that’d be enough. But more people caught up to bits and pieces of it today. That, in this case, might have actually been more deflating.

So we went for a bike ride. I thought it would be too dark, because even the sky had become gloomy and overcast this afternoon. I saw a cyclist just before I turned into the neighborhood and thought about how he didn’t really stand out from the background. But I was wrong about the light, because about the time we got out for a quick and easy hour ride we enjoyed the best light of the day.

It was brilliant, in the sense that has to do with golden light.

The legs felt good, the lungs felt good and the weather was suddenly lovely and maybe it was all the perfect distraction.

*This is always a Note To Self.

baseball / history / IU / photo / Tuesday — Comments Off on Two campus notes, just before the full moon
29
Sep 20

Two campus notes, just before the full moon

Checked my mailbox on campus today and there was a little poster tube there. It was from the Office of the Bicentennial. The university, early this year, celebrated its 200th anniversary and, while it was a bit abbreviated because of the coronavirus shutdown, we’d been marking the event for a few years.

From time to time I had the good fortune to help them with this or that, and someone there was kind enough to send me a little thank you. I got a nice poster and some cool lapel pins:

So my question is, can I wear those in 2021?

Meanwhile, there’s baseball going on. And today I used my awesome powers to put three simultaneous playoff games on the big screen:

No one was there to watch them, because few people come into the building these days under the university’s wise safety precautions. But just as it is weird to consider 16 teams in baseball’s post season, it seemed normal to put sports on the big screen.

I wonder what they showed on that screen 200 years ago.

Ha! That’s a trick question! That building is only 103 years old! Back in 1917 you would have watched the Chicago White Sox and the New York Giants in the World Series. The Sox, who won the series, were managed by a man named Pants Rowland. The Giants were managed by John McGraw, he of the bony old fingers.

Did you know there was a real Moonlight Graham? Burt Lancaster put poetry to the thing, but his is a beautiful and common tale, even without the book or the film. (The one inning the real Graham played in was a bit earlier than the film, in 1905. He passed away in 1965.)

There’s a book about him. Let me know if he ever made it down this way.

cycling / errands / Monday / photo / video — Comments Off on How I roll
28
Sep 20

How I roll

Wake up with a morning show. They’re always so cheery and bright. Our students produce one of those. Here’s today’s episode.

I did a morning show for two years in college, and then I worked morning drive for pretty much my entire news career.

I’m a night owl and I think I’m still recovering.

I’ll spend some time from this year recovering, psychologically, from flat tires.

I had yet another one on Saturday. I think that’s six, maybe seven, this year. It’s always the back. And it’s probably entirely a mixture of bad luck and user error. Probably more the latter than I’d like to admit.

But there I sat, a brand new tube in the tire and it punctured about 15 miles in to its life, I was getting ready for a short, hard Strava segment when the tube gave way. The Yankee was right behind me and she stopped with me. I carry a hand pump and a spare tube, so I sent her on ahead. And I worked on this dumb thing a while, first in the sunshine, and then I crossed the street to sit in the shade.

A guy rode along on his bike and he offered to stop. We talked bikes and routes and I borrowed his better pump. And for a moment it seemed normal, and I think we both remembered at about the same time we should be standing a bit farther apart. About that time I had the new tube in place and inflated and so I soft pedaled my way home.

See, the thing is I ride at about 110 psi on a regular day, and a good hand pump will get you up to about 70 psi. And that’s just spongy enough to go a bit slower and smell the roses.

We went to get gas this morning. Made good use of those grocery store loyalty points, too.

We go and fill both cars up together to get the most of our savings. I said, As far as I can recall, this is the first time I’ve filled up since May 30th.

The Yankee thinks we got gas in July. Maybe. It’s hard to say. The point being, we’re driving so little that a tank of gas goes a long way. A normal week, right now, is four trips to campus and maybe a journey out to get takeout for Saturday lunch. That comes out to about 35 or 40 miles for me. I’ll take that.

And if I start riding my bike back to work … if I can avoid the flats …

Friday / iPhone / IU / photo / podcast / television / video — Comments Off on A collection and an assemblage of bits of things
25
Sep 20

A collection and an assemblage of bits of things

Hey! Look! I’m on TV!

Nice selfie, huh? I went to the morning show’s shoot this morning, and then got called into a meeting right after taking this picture. By the time the meeting was over, the morning show taping had wrapped. These students are getting pretty proficient at all of this. Even the engineer, who works every day with professionals, complimented them about that. It’s a business that requires quality at speed, and they’re putting them together nicely.

I spent the afternoon in an audio booth, where I’m producing a tutorial. I did not demonstrate speed today, but I have some nice shots for the eventual package.

Got a nice shot of the Canada geese skipping town today, too.

Just go ahead and go. Quitters.

Sports! Here are some videos the sports gang produced last night. There’s footage of an intramural home run derby because, while we don’t yet have formal varsity sports, everyone is pulling together programs as best they can. It’s kind of charming in a way.

And here’s the talk show for the week, where you will get a history lesson, indeed:

Need some financial advice? Here’s a financial Quick Hit:

And that’s enough for today. To the weekend! Be safe, because you must. Be happy, because you can.

IU / memories / podcast / Thursday / Wednesday — Comments Off on A political campaign ‘listen to this’
24
Sep 20

A political campaign ‘listen to this’

When I was in graduate school I took a class on political communication. The professor was a famous and renowned pollster. And after a day or two the professor would ask the class a question and the class just looked at me.

I was conscientious of that. I didn’t want to be that guy, but they were pretty clear that I should be that guy. The professor would later become my committee chair, did me a few solid favors in the program and later took credit for introducing me to my wife.

He was only slightly wrong about that, but he’d earned the literacy license with me.

So esteemed was Dr. Powell in our eyes that, despite him asking us for years to address him by his first name, “Because we are colleagues,” we all still refer to him as Dr. Powell. He’s a good man.

And I was thinking of him while I was interviewing Dr. Gerald Wright, who is in the political science department at IU. We talked about the upcoming presidential debates. So I was very happy for the opportunity, because this is the part of politic campaigns that I like: the message construction, the real body work.

The debates, probably not as much. They’re important, but they’re not. You know what you know about the candidates. You like who you like. And not much that can happen at a debate, or even a series of them, will move people who have made up their minds.

They’re debates, but they’re not. The formats aren’t really debates anymore. We don’t know all of the details about this debate cycle, yet, but there’s little to suggest the previous sentence will be wrong. It has been written that they’re basically press conferences in their current form, and that’s not exactly wrong.

They’re entertaining and informative, but they’re not. You have to follow and know politics to be entertained by them. If that describes you, you won’t learn much that’s continually informative for you. If you’re apathetic to the process in general — and far, far too many are — then you’re probably not watching, or paying only scant attention anyway.

They’re a part of the process, but they’re mostly just a tradition at this point. It’d be terrific, from the perspective of civics, if they were more than an academic study. I’m sure Dr. Powell will have a great deal to discuss with his classes during and after the debates. And I bet Dr. Wright will, as well. You get the impression, from the interview above, that he’ll have a lot to say to his students’ benefit.

He asked, before I could remind him, if I wanted the soundbite answers or the professorial answers. You’ve no idea how much I wanted to insist on the really in-depth stuff.

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