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  • Premier League Week 3: A Tottenham Win, Brentford’s Heartbreaker, and Leeds

    Tottenham Hotspur took on Wolverhampton this Saturday, and it was a mixed blessing of a match. A win is a win, so I’ll take it – No complaints there. But the start of the match, Wolverhampton looked pretty solid, as they had some good chances that they just couldn’t convert. What I thought the Wolves did great against Spurs was shut Son out of the match, which third match into the season, I have yet to see Son be Son. Either way, Spurs had another slow start, and the first half of the match left me feeling like this is a team that keeps bending to opponents, but not breaking. In the second half, Tottenham came out fighting, and it really felt like it was only a matter of time before that were able to strike. It came in the 64th minute when Harry Kane got a header to score which was all Spurs needed to get the win. This match did feel like another test, and Tottenham proved that they could keep it together to stay undefeated. Yet, this still doesn’t feel like a team that finds ways to win, but a club that refuses to lose.

    Then there was my dark horse team Brentford that lost a heartbreaking nail biter at Fulham. The match started off awful for the Bees who gave up two goals early, one being in the first minute. Brentford hung in there with Norgarrd scoring at the end of the first half, and Toney scorning an equalizer in the 71st minute. But Fulham’s forward Mitrovic was able to put the match away at the 90th minute. Sure, there were four minutes of stoppage time, but Brentford was spent. This was a match of two very scrappy teams fighting it out for respect in the League. Fulham just got promoted last year, and Brentford looking to prove they belong here as well, especially after the drumming the handed Man United last week. I’m telling you, and I know nothing about football, keep your eye on Brentford.

    Hey! Leeds beat Chelsea 3 – 0. That just made me happy, as clearly I’m not a fan of Chelsea. Nor of Arsenal. Or Man City. I’ll throw Liverpool in there as well. But Hey! Leeds looked awesome! No disrespect to Leeds.

    On to Week Four!

    (And, as always, if you are find this insights insightful, then don’t be a bother, give a like, share a share, or sound off in the comments. It’ll do you good, as I knew your father, I did!)

  • Thinking of Autumn and Climate Change

    I put pants on today. Since the last week in June until yesterday, I have been in shorts. It is Summer after all, so that should not come as a shock to anyone. But the fact that I put on a pair of khaki pants, and it is a little humid today so it might not have been the wisest decision, to me marks the start of Fall. That’s right, I am calling it: Today starts the slow and steady decent into the Autumn Season.

    Not too long ago, I made the declaration that I am over Summer. The heat, humidity, and the constant A/C being on, wore me down. I was, and still am, ready for the seasons to change. Today, I took an active step in acclimating myself to this coming Autumn.

    Yet, I don’t think any of us have been able to escape the constant and unrelenting news reports that this Summer was the hottest, and depending on where you lived, either the driest or wettest on record. Once in a 1,000-year droughts, or once in 1,000-year floods keep happening. The heat will only get worse. Meaning that Summers will get longer, making the other seasons shorter. Even talking to my father this weekend, and he isn’t the biggest believer of climate change, he has started to express worry and concern for the future.

    There are many things that I dislike about humanity, and sadly, I think most people are like my father. They didn’t believe climate change would happen, until it happened. I remember being in grade school, so that is the mid-80’s, and every school year we had an Earth Week, where we were taught about cleaning up and throwing away garbage, being respectful of nature, because if the planet started falling apart due to how we treated it, then we are all screwed. And I grew up in Texas, so I know I got the most conservative version of that message.

    Now at least, it seems like everyone is coming around to the truth. That at least makes me hopeful for the future, and for my daughter’s generation. I know two things to be true. One is that humans are great at adapting and overcoming life threating problems. We’ve been doing it for 100,000 years. The second goes back to what I said before, people only believe in something if they experience it first-hand. To me, that’s says that humanity is primed to solve this problem.

    I’m trying to stay optimistic, and keep the faith in all of us working together. I sure hope that’s not misplaced. In the meantime, I will start to think about taking the sweaters out of winter storage.

    (And on that happy note, If you like what you read, be a champ and give a like, or a share, or hell, even leave a comment. Does a body good!)

  • ODDS and ENDS: I Want to Watch Tottenham Live, Office Drone, and It’s Hot Out

    Tottenham is playing Wolverhampton this Saturday morning. It’s a home match for Spurs, and they should win, but I won’t be able to watch it live, because the match is being shown on USA. See, we cut the cord years ago, and I got Peacock to watch the Premier League, but not every match is shown live, so I have to wait to watch the replay later that night. I have to be very selective when it comes to going on social media Saturday, because I don’t want to accidently see the score. It’s a minor inconvenience, but it still is an inconvenience. I am sure there is a contractual reason for all for, but I still don’t understand why there isn’t one place you can go to watch all the matches live. It’s taken some time, but you can now do that with the NFL. It costs you, but there is a way for an out of market fan to watch their favorite team all season long. I’m a bit surprised that Peacock/NBC Sports hasn’t figured out a way to do this. Currently, if you want to watch your PL team live, then you need to have access to NBC, Peacock, Telemundo, Univeriso, and USA: two are free channels, two are cable channels, and one is streaming. That’s a lot of hoops to jump through, and I don’t know if that is the smartest way to build a brand. What it feels like is that NBC is just replicating their Olympic coverage system, which is terrible and no one likes. Just, come up with a better system guys.

    The wife got me to start watching Severance on Apple TV. I know that I am late to the party, as everyone has already talked about how great the show is, and I don’t disagree with that. (It’s like, if OK Computer were a tv show.) Last night as I was watching the third episode, and a thought went through my head; This show reminds me so much of working in the corporate/business world. And then I thought; I have never worked in the corporate/business world. I have worked for the past 15 years in the arts, about as far as you can get from the corporate world. Yet, this show seems to tap into something within me that makes me think that I have experienced what this show is presenting. I find that deeply fascinating.

    I love my daughter. Let’s just get that out there. I love her, and it’s my job to look after her. Today, it will be close to 90 degrees in NYC, and we have a playdate at the park. I explained to the kid that it will be hot today, and she should dress in shorts or a skirt, and a tee-shirt. Having given her these parameters, I sent her off into her room to pick out clothes, and she comes back in pants and a long-sleeved shirt. Now, my gut reaction is to tell her to go back into her room and change, but there is also part of me that wants to let her go to the park that way. You know, so she can learn to ware temperature appropriate clothing; experience is the best teacher, right? No, I chose the argument and the avoidance of heat stroke.

    (And again – please take a moment to like, share, or comment on this blog. Little kittens are counting on you.)

  • Socializing the Dog

    This is our family dog, Hattie.

    She looks like a puppy, but she isn’t. She’s a rescue from a puppy-mill, and she already had at least one litter by the time we adopted, and got her fixed. She is a smaller dog, which works great with our tiny Manhattan apartment. She likes to nap, as she will do with anyone who sits on the couch long enough. She’s playful, sweet with kids, and if you are a man, she is a huge flirt. She’s so friendly, that if were to get mugged while walking her, she most likely would roll over and show her belly to the mugger.

    That’s our dog.

    Oh, and our dog is a complete terror whenever she gets near another dog. I’m talking about growling, and barking, and jumping, and pulling at her leash. She’s gotten worked up to the point that she’s even bitten my hand when I tried to calm her down. Her behavior around other dogs is so bad, that on walks, other people with dogs know who she is, and they try to avoid her.

    It’s really annoying, and potentially a huge problem if she bites another dog, which makes it all the more frustrating because of how sweet she is with people and kids.

    The odd thing is that when we take her to the groomers and vet, which we warn them about her behavior, they always tell us how sweet she is with them and other dogs… when we’re not around. It’s a fabulous backhanded compliment as the implication is that WE are the problem, not her.

    The only explanation for her behavior I have received is that she is being protective of us, possible due to some abuse or situation from her past. That in Hattie’s mind, she is only doing her job of keeping us safe. I want to believe that’s true, as that sounds really nice, and explains why she’s cool when we aren’t around. Either way, this behavior cannot continue, as we would like to kid to start taking Hattie for walks, but we can’t do that if her behavior is so unpredictable.

    This summer, the kid and I decided that we would try and socialize Hattie by taking her to our local dog run in the park, which has a small pen next to the main fenced area. My thought here was that we would take her to the small pen each day for 15 to 30 minutes, so Hattie could get used to being near other dogs, and hopefully see that there is no threat. I don’t know if this is a good idea, as I just made it up, and isn’t some advice I received from an expert. So success is not guaranteed.

    We have been doing this dog run thing for two weeks now, and we’ll be doing it today. As of this moment, we have not seen any improvement. Hattie goes up to the fence, and other dogs come over. It looks like it will be a big sniff fest, but then Hattie goes nuts and starts barking. The other dogs walk away, leaving Hattie barking, alone at the fence. I am sure this behavior will repeat today.

    Sadly, the thought has already crossed my mind, which is “How long do I have to keep doing this?” At what point should I expect results, and at what point is it apparent that positive results will not be forthcoming?

    I know that the answer is a shrug and a smile. Only time will tell.

    (And… don’t forget to kick a like, or a share my way. A comment would be cool, too.)

  • Putting the Kid to Work

    I’m putting the kid to work today. We are going to paint baseboards. See, I was able to paint everything in the kid’s room; purple walls with white doorways and the windows. The only thing I wasn’t able to get to were the baseboards. Hence why I’m putting the kid to work. Also, I would like her to take a little ownership of her space, as well. You know, make her feel that the room belongs to her. But I also know that it’s just fun to play with paint.

    And the Summer is winding down. There is only three weeks left to the kid’s Summer vacation, and I am sure this won’t be the last time I will say this, but the Summer has gone by really fast. This week, we’ll do our back to school shopping, and next week we have our meet and greet with the kid’s new teacher. Then Labor Day, and the school starts.

    And the cycle starts all over again.

    Which means it virtually Christmas, right?

    What I am trying to remind myself is that I have limited, one on one time with the kid. She’s getting older, becoming her own person, and won’t want to be around me forever. As she grows, our relationship will change, has already changed actually, and that’s something I need to get used to.

    I can see why some parents never want their kids to get older, or change. (Just stay small and innocent, you know.) I like the fact that she’s getting feisty and opinioned. This sword cuts both way as wanting her to be her own person means that she will have to pull away from me. This isn’t a new story in the world, but it is one that I am experiencing for the first time.

    But for today, we’ll paint baseboards together. And I have a feeling that she will make me listen to The Descendants soundtrack, again.

    (Oh Yeah! If you read this, clearly you have, and if it struck you as entertaining, then if you could be a pal and leave a like, or a comment, or share it to the furthest reaches of the UNIVERSE!)