Kansas City Royals Start of Season Brief Update and Looking Forward to Attending a Game

Royals Stadium from 2008

Not a very good end to March or start to April. The Kansas City Royals started off the season 0 - 3. We went two full games without a single run. That makes it difficult to win a game. We finally got a run in the third game, but lost that game after getting four runs. Not an ideal start to the season. I was looking forward to watching a competitive season. Granted, the season is young and there is still a lot of baseball to play. We did finally get our first win on Monday night, but then lost the second game of the series Tuesday night. 

Here we are on Thursday night writing and the Royals lost again today. We have won one game this season.We have had a total of 36 hits during our first seven games and only 17 runs. Our pitching has not been all that bad, but our batting has completely failed us in at least three games so far scoring zero points in those three games. Pitiful!

I write this update for Sunday on Thursday night and we start a new series on Friday against the Giants. Our first road game of the season and I am not expecting much. The Giants are 3-3 to start the season, so there is a chance we could go zero runs for all three games or get lucky and win the one game. At this point, that is about as good as I see it getting the way the season has started.

It is so enjoyable to visit Kauffman Stadium to watch our Kansas City Royals and while I have not made it to one of the early season games, I do plan to get to a few games this season. My hope is that when I do finally make it to see a game this summer, we are competitive and have an exciting game.

Until next time, have a great week! Here is to hoping we play well the next three days and manage to get at least one win. I am not asking much, two would be great, but being realistic, I would take one win for the next three games. Go Royals!

I had this post lined up and ready to post for Sunday night at midnight, but here I am on Friday evening updating that the Royals got their second win of the season this afternoon. We beat the Giants 3 - 1 Friday afternoon. I might need to not watch, listen, or follow their games more often. I truly thought we were going to be swept this weekend, so I am happy to get this Friday win.

Me again, it is now Saturday evening as I write and once again, I missed the game today. I saw the score and I see that we won again. Ok, I think the baseball Gods are telling me something that I need to not watch or only partially watch and the Royals will win. Your welcome!

I wrote the majority of this on early in the week. I decided to leave it as I think it is a bit funny and then if it is helping the Royals win, I am good with that too. I would like to eventually be able to watch the Royals and have them win the game. 

This will post at midnight this evening (Saturday), so I am interested to see how it goes tomorrow. I will not be watching or following the game tomorrow. Go Royals!

Grilled Pork Tenderloin and Asparagus on Big Green Egg Last Sunday… It Was So Good!

Decided to do some grilling last Sunday, March 26. It had been a while since I had grilled. Oliver was helping me get everything ready by being the lookout for the back yard as I got the grill ready. As soon as I come through the family room with the bag to do the fire, he leaps off of the couch and is ready to go outside with me. It was a bit chilly on Sunday, but we did not mind, and every time I went in, or out, of the house, Oliver was right there to help.

Carrie had picked up a pork tenderloin at the store, so we did some seasoning so we could marinate the two pork tenderloins in a plastic bag for a few hours before grilling. Prepped some asparagus to go on the grill too. I realized as I am writing that I neglected to get a picture of everything done plated. I always miss out on doing the final picture as excited to get to eating. Oliver and I had a grand time grilling. He patrolled the people walking and made sure I was doing everything properly. Carrie had bought some IPA beers for me when we were in St. Louis, so I was enjoying those while I grilled. It was so good! I want to grill more!

It had also been a while since I had used the Meater Block, so this was a chance to use those for this cook. Carrie likes pork a little more done, so I set both for a little longer on the grill. Once again, Meater did great and the pork was nice and juicy. The asparagus on the grill turned out really good too. A little crunch, but really good flavor. A little oil, salt and pepper, and right on the grill made for a delicious compliment with the pork tenderloin.

The meal was so good, we are planning to grill again today. Getting ready to head to the store to pick up groceries and we plan to get the pork marinating earlier this time. I will try to capture how we do the marinade so I can include that for next weeks update. I also plan to include a picture of the completed meal before I start chowing down. 

Oliver was so sleepy after helping with the cooking, he fell asleep shortly after we finished with dinner. His tongue out and sacked out while we cleaned up and watched television. Poor little guy worked so hard making sure I was doing everything correctly outside, he slept most of the night as we hung out in the family room. I am sure Oliver will hep today when I cook too and good thing I have a full bag of lump for the grill ready to go.

Hoping this weather sticks around as it is so great outside. The grass is greening up and will start to grow soon. I noticed my first mosquito yesterday afternoon while sitting outside on our patio. Good thing we have Mosquito Joe coming this week to start treatment on our yard. If you have not tried Mosquito Joe, I recommend you do so. When we were not using Mosquito Joe to treat our lawn, I could barely go in our back yard without getting eaten up. We have been using Mosquito Joe for three or four years now. 

I hope you have a great day and be sure to cheer on the Royals today at 1 pm. We need a win badly and also need run support. We are 0 - 2 to start the season and have a total of zero runs in those two games. It has been a rough start, but as they say, there are a lot of games to play.

Have a great week!

Change in Wi-Fi Calling Not Dropping Calls When Leaving Wireless Hotspot Location -- Huge Improvement!

Like many of you, I use my cell phone all the time. I use it for browsing the web, social media, email, calendar, and to stay updated on news. For a few years now, I have relied upon Wi-Fi Calling to be enabled so that if there was a wireless connection available to which I was connected, I could rely on that connection to make and receive calls. Without this option, it was not possible in some places to make or receive calls let alone to be able to interact on the internet. Today, there is almost no where that I go that a internet connection is not available. 

When I first started using Wi-Fi calling on my phone, I found that if I was in say my office and on a call with my cell, if I left the building, the call would drop. The call was attempting to transition from the internet connection to the towers. I had really not tried to walk away from a connection for at least the past two years until recently. I was surprised to find that my call did not drop. I did further testing to see if I was on a call and went into an area with wireless would it drop as it handed the call from the cell tower to the wireless access point... Sure enough, this worked too and worked smoothly. 

Much improved process with the hand-off to and from Wi-Fi calling on the iPhone. I know there were many times I would call Carrie to let her know I was heading to pick her up for lunch and as I walked to my car, the call would drop. Now, that is not an issue as I can get to the car, drive out of the lot, and the call never drops. 

I am not sure if this was an improvement by the standards for mobile phones, an Apple change, or something that was improved with the hand-off between my device and either Wi-Fi or tower. Whatever it is, I am thankful for the improvement. I rely on my phone heavily and knowing that I can leave a place that has Wi-Fi and the call will not drop is important. 

While it is not ideal to drop a call to my wife, it can be awkward to drop a call to a vendor, or customer, as I leave the office. Left calling them back saying "sorry, I am not sure what happened to the connection" where the whole time I know it was because I had left a place with wireless where I had placed the call and now I am in an area without wireless. This is no longer a concern as it works the way I would hope it would work.

Again, I am not sure when this changed as I could not find much information about it. I am not sure if this is an improvement only for iPhones or if Android also benefits off of this change. If it is all phones, then I wonder if this was an improvement that was made by the FCC to be able to hand the call between no Wi-Fi and connected to Wi-Fi. 

Weekend Trip to St. Louis for Food, Drinks, and Fun

 

This past weekend we took a trip to St. Louis which is turning into an annual trip. Greg plays in a fantasy baseball draft that drafts in-person, so we have made a trip of it the past two years. We headed to St. Louis on Thursday, March 16 and we returned on Sunday, March 19. We had a wonderful time and managed to get to two Italian places to eat.

 

We did go to a new Italian place to eat our first night in St. Louis. We went to Paul Manno's Restaurant. Great food, wonderful service, and had the best time eating there Thursday night. Our night here as a perfect evening where we continued to talk about it on our way back on Sunday. Wonderful spot!

Friday we had a long day of going to different spots around St. Louis. We started off with an early breakfast and then went through the day until we dropped Greg off at his draft. Erin, Carrie, and I found a good spot to eat as we knew it might not be a spot Greg would like, so we made reservations and had a delicious meal in a cool spot. The name of the place was jalea.

The drinks were good and then dinner was also delicious. I could not finish all of my food, so I took some of it home, but ended up not having the leftovers either. We loved the look of the place and our waiter was excellent. He shared with us that he played baseball in Kansas, so he was familiar with Kansas. It was good to eat some delicious food, have some fun drinks, and try out a new spot.

Carrie was doing some artsy pictures while we were in St. Louis, so a few of those to share here.

We are already looking forward to next year when we will go back and go to new places. I was able to meet with my friend, Mark, and his wife, Shauna, while were there. We met them for lunch on Saturday and had a chance to catch up.

Saturday night, we went to Charlie Gitto’s which we went to last year. It was good, but we had a better time, better food, and drinks at Paul Manno's. We look forward to trying a new spot next year when we return.

For now, this is all as I did not get this posted on Sunday as my regular schedule as I was so tired from the weekend, I slept most of the evening and went to bed early. Playing catch up on our weekend trip of staying up late, getting up early, and having fun.

March Madness 2023 ESPN Tournament Challenge

It is time to make your selections for March Madness. 

March Madness Hopefuls group is free to play and you can enter up to three entries. There is no password on the group, so hoping it will be an easy process to join your entries, encourage your family and friends to join, and be sure to come back after Selection Sunday to make your entries. 

The directions for joining remain the same from last year. Group is read and can start getting the word out on joining the group. The more people in the group the more fun it is to make your selections. 

1. Visit ESPN which will take you directly to the March Madness Hopefuls.
2. If you are already signed into the ESPN web site, you can immediately create your bracket. If not, sign into the site and then you will be taken to the March Madness Hopefuls group or you can search for March Madness Hopefuls to join.
3. Join the group.
4. Repeat the above process to create additional brackets. In the March Madness Hopefuls bracket, you can have three entries.

Be sure to submit your entries by 10:00 am CST Thursday, March 16. This will make sure you get your entries submitted and have time to get them submitted. First game tips at 11:00 am on Thursday March 16.

If you have any questions or problems, please post a comment to this post.

Good luck and enjoy March Madness!

Watched All of the Oscar Nominated Best Films for 2023 and My Reaction to the Films

If you have watched all of the Oscar nominated best picture movies, you know there is a wide range of featured films. From singing, aspiring film maker, and Ireland to fighter jets, conductor, and mind bending jump through time, this years nominated pictures have a wide range of variety. Carrie and I finished our last movie a week ago. Unfortunately, AMC Theaters did not do their Best Picture Showcase this year where we could watch all of the best picture movies in the theater, so we caught some in local theaters, others via streaming services, and others through paid rental. 

I love going to see movies in the theater, so I am glad we were able to catch a few of this years movies in the theater to capture the full experience. I was able to catch Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water, and Everything Everywhere All at Once. The three we were able to watch in the theater were also a drastic change of style. Top Gun: Maverick we watched last summer when everyone else in the country was going out to watch the movie. The storyline, action, and acting were good coming away feeling good about seeing the movie. Although Top Gun: Maverick seems so different from the other movies it is up against, it does not seem like a movie that would win best picture. 

Avatar: The Way of Water was entertaining with incredible scenes. I really liked the original Avatar (2009) many years ago, but Avatar: The Way of Water I was bored. It was a long movie at three hours and twelve minutes. One of those movies about the second hour into Avatar: The Way of Water where I felt I knew the story, where it was going, and could have ended earlier. Another movie that seems completely different from other movies it is up against, but it does not seem like a best picture. 

Carrie and I watched Elvis and while Carrie went into it not expecting much, we both enjoyed the movie. Believable of Elvis in this movie where even the singing was done well. Not best picture but I think it will win some awards. Elvis is another film I could watch again as I enjoyed the movie and the story behind the entertainer.

Everything Everywhere All at Once was a mind bending movie to watch jumping between universes and connecting lives in those universes made for a good movie. Like many others, Everything Everywhere All at Once is at the top of my best picture selections. The acting was done well along with the storyline, it was a movie I am glad I was able to catch in the theater.

I found that I did like The Banshees of Inisherin although I do not think it will win best picture. It was a believable story of two friends and then it just got weird. While it was an odd film, I did like the film. It took some weird twist and turns for sure, but I thought both the main characters were really good. A movie I would not mind watching again as I am sure there are parts of the movie I missed.

I went into All Quiet on the Western Front thinking I had seen a former version of the movie, but realized I had only read about the film in other books. All Quiet on the Western Front is an intense movie set in World War I. The actors did a good job of the film which was set in German although we watched with an English dubbing, but I think it might have been even better to watch in German and read the text instead. I would like to go back and watch prior films of All Quiet on the Western Front to see how they compare.

When I saw previews of The Fabelmans months ago, I thought I was really going to like the movie of a young person aspiring to be a filmmaker. Instead, I found The Fabelmans once again on the boring side and yes possibly only nominated because of the director being Steven Spielberg. The story was interesting, but I thought it was going to be better and really just found the movie boring.

Tár is a movie that again I was not sure what to expect. I thought the story was interesting about Lydia Tár and unlike some of the other nominated movies, I did not find myself bored with this film. A bit different from other films, so based on what I have read, it will not win for best picture, but again, I can see it winning some Oscars in other categories.

Triangle of Sadness was an interesting film and seemed to almost be multiple stories combined into one film but all based on the same celebrity couple. There was some humor in the film as well as some just plain gross portions. Overall, I did like Triangle of Sadness but again I do not think this will be the best picture.

My least favorite movie of the nominees is Women Talking. A few of the other movies were boring, but Women Talking some a major snooze-fest for me. I might have even fallen asleep during this movie. Women Talking is about a group of women talking and that’s what they do to determine whether to stay or fight. That is all that really happens in Women Talking where the women are talking, talking, and more talking. It was not my type of movie and I do not see it winning best picture.

In summary, a wide range of varying movies this year for best picture. I think Everything Everywhere All at Once will win best picture, but I did enjoy a few of the films. It will be interesting to see what happens Sunday night for the Oscars. No matter the winner, it was a fun process watching all of the films nominated this year.

Enjoyable Saturday Morning at Circle Coffee Co Eating Breakfast, Drinking Coffee, and Reading

Prosciutto & Gouda Danish with Coffee

Carrie and I were able to visit a new coffee shop on Saturday and it was wonderful. In August 2022 I had posted that we had visited a new wine bar and new coffee place in Topeka (see post) and in the same update I had talked about the new place opening up on 17th Street near Washburn University and that we were hopefully going there soon. Well, it is now March 2023 and we finally made it to the “new place”.

Circle Coffee was completely packed when we arrived mid-morning on Saturday. The parking lot was full with no spots and people were parking in the street. Carrie wondered if there would be any space for us inside as we were walking up. We went to the counter to order two lattes and some breakfast. We found one table that had just opened up where we sat and spent the morning enjoying ourselves.

Circle Coffee has some good options for breakfast with pastries, rolls, etc. We both ordered chocolate croissants with our latte. Then we had prosciutto and gouda danishes after we sat and read for a while. It was good to have a lazy Saturday morning drinking coffee, eating, reading, and in a busy breakfast place in Topeka. 

It was a perfect morning hanging out with Carrie. I look forward to going to Circle Coffee again on another Saturday morning. Going to coffee shops reminds me of going to study back when I was doing my masters program when Carrie and I would go to hang out for hours at a coffee shop while I researched or wrote papers. Coffee shops rank up there with ending up at a brewery in the afternoon and having a wonderful time sipping beers, talking, or reading.

I highly recommend stopping by Circle Coffee to get breakfast and coffee. Very good!

Ahead of schedule on my reading for the year. My goal for the year is 25 books and yesterday while at the coffee shop, I finished my sixth book of the year. I am two books ahead of schedule, so I am feeling good with my progress and I think I will hit my goal for the year.

Until next time, have a wonderful week!