New Shoes in the Rain

Good Monday morning to you!  It's late enough in the morning that I can afford to be chipper, having had coffee and a reasonable amount of time to return to work-mode. Did you watch the Oscars last night?  We debated on it here at my house and ultimately decided that we had nothing else planned, so we invested three-plus hours in what I could easily characterize as the most unusual awards show I've seen in a while. Important to note that we attempted the same with the Golden Globes several weeks ago, and gave up after about fifteen minutes, it was that bizarre. This was better in several respects, namely the setting.  The event was staged at Los Angeles' historic Union Station, which is a classic art-deco building that still exudes the same appeal it did when newly constructed.  And there were no hosts, which means fewer lame jokes, no production numbers, etc. But the cadence of the show was off.  Presenters would walk into view (in a variety of locations in the...

Here in central Kentucky we awoke to a bit of snow from the night before.  Always a bit of a shock to be wearing shorts one day, and have snow on the ground the next.   Yesterday’s news of the guilty verdict in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was in some ways unsurprising, yet in other ways downright shocking.  So seldom does a verdict come out the way that the known facts would indicate it should, given what a racially charged situation this was and still is.  Experts had said repeatedly that the length of jury deliberations would be a direct indication of whether Chauvin would be found guilty or acquitted. Amid the rejoicing by so many people of so many backgrounds, it was hard not to consider the fact that the legal system allows for appeals of convictions, so this is far from over, in my view.  As it stands now, Chauvin will be incarcerated for eight weeks until his sentencing hearing, and it’s likely a given ...

Welcome to the weekend, my friends!  We hardworking folks look forward to two days of respite and doing what we want, instead of what we must! This week I had and experience I had not had since sometime in 2018.  I attended a Major League Baseball game, hosted by and featuring my lifelong team, the Cincinnati Reds. I don't imagine I need to detail the reasons why it's been so long since I last went to a Reds game.  If memory serves, I accompanied my son and his "big" kids (now 11 and 9) to a game back in the 2018 season.  During a big part of 2019, I was again in the midst of a job search and did not want to spend the money necessary to go to a game, so didn't.  And in 2020, of course, fans were not permitted to attend regular season games due to the coronavirus pandemic. So I was simultaneously excited and apprehensive about the Reds' announcement that Ohio state regulations allowed them to welcome a certain percentage of fan capacity to games this year.  ...