4-0 x 4

 

2020 Census: Favorite TV Shows

TV is hard to approach. So many different genres. Plus, some series you might only watch once, some you might watch over and over, and some like Arrested Development, I watched too much to the point where I haven't been in the mood to watch it in ten years or something. 

I guess I should start writing down shows I like and see where that gets me. 

Community
Arrested Development
Broad City
The Good Place
The Office
Seinfeld
30 Rock
Silicon Valley
Always Sunny
Veep
New Girl
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
American Vandal
Master of None
Russian Doll

Sherlock
The Wire
Breaking Bad
The West Wing

Survivor

Okay, so that's lots of shows. I bolded the ones that speak to me personally on another level.

Shows I'm Not Interested in: Game of Thrones, Schitt's Creek

2020 Census: Favorite Music

The point of this is not trying to rank the objectively best bands. It's a time capsule. What bands am I listening to the most. What bands do I want to listen to the most. 

Here are the 7 that I immediately put into my top ten, in alphabetical order:

311

Alkaline Trio

Dashboard Confessional

Motion City Soundtrack

New Found Glory

Panic! at the Disco

Vampire Weekend

(After debating about including Vampire Weekend in the 2010 top ten, they firmly belong now.)

So that leaves three spots for the likes of The Hold Steady, Seaway, Sublime, Brand New, Ozma, Third Eye Blind, The National, The Stereo, Weezer, Twenty One Pilots...

I narrowed that list down to a next four: Third Eye Blind, Ozma, Brand New, and The Hold Steady. 

I realized that I've listened to Third Eye Blind and Ozma recently, so they're in. 

So now it's down to Brand New vs The Hold Steady. Let's go with The Hold Steady. 

So my 2020 top ten Favorite Bands:

311

Alkaline Trio

Dashboard Confessional

The Hold Steady

Motion City Soundtrack

New Found Glory

Ozma

Panic! at the Disco

Third Eye Blind

Vampire Weekend

- - -

Here's my favorite album by each of my favorite bands in chronological order:

Third Eye Blind: Third Eye Blind (1997)

Alkaline Trio: Goddamnit (1998)

Dashboard Confessional: The Swiss Army Romance (2000)

Ozma: Rock and Roll Part Three (2001)

Motion City Soundtrack: Commit This to Memory (2005)

The Hold Steady: Boys and Girls in America (2006)

Panic! at the Disco: Pretty. Odd. (2008)

Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City (2013)

New Found Glory: Resurrection (2014)

311: MOSAIC (2017)

- - -

A note on 311's MOSAIC: It's not their best album, but because it's newish, I haven't played it out yet, so it's the one I want to most listen to right now. 

A note on Alkaline Trio, I almost wanted to pick Crimson or even From Here to Infirmary. 

A note on Dashboard Confessional, I almost wanted to pick A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar

A note on New Found Glory, it's not really about any one album. I could have easily picked self-titled. 

2010 bands

2010 albums

BoardGameArena

For a while I've enjoyed playing digital versions of tabletop games, because I haven't had the friends/group to play games with in person. Another nice thing about digital versions is how much faster they can go. I can play a game of Catan in under 15 minutes. I like playing against AI because of how quick their turns go as well. 

I recently just stumbled across BoardGameArena.com which offers digital versions AND lets you play against live players around the world. 

Here are the results of the first 3-round Lost Cities game I've ever played, and also the best I've ever done. (240-125). 

I bought premium for a year (it was only 24 dollars) which means that anyone reading this can play any game with me for free. So if you're reading this and want to play a game, just give me a holler. 

Here was my first game of Kingdomino on the site:

2020 Census: Favorite Hobbies

Cooking/Eating

Gaining & Losing Weight

Board Games

Video Games

Watching Sports (NFL, NHL, March Madness)

Competing in Calcutta, Fantasy and Brackets

Creative Writing

Shooting Hoops

Playing with the Kids

Watching my subscribed YouTube channels

Listening to Podcasts

2010 version

2020 Census: Favorite Books & Podcasts

This is the saddest confession, so I might as well get it out of the way. I don't really read books anymore.

The last real book I read was last year, Raised in Captivity by Chuck Klosterman. I bought Point B by Drew Magary but haven't been able to dive into it. 

The time in my life when I read the most books for pleasure was when I lived in Oak Park and commuted on the Green Line for an hour a day. It was really nice to have that dedicated reading time, before and after work. 

Now, I listen to podcasts on my commute. And I've been reading more on Medium, though these short takes don't provide nearly the substance of a book. 

Once my kids go off to college, I can see myself being bored and turning to books once again. When I do I should use Goodreads or something similar to keep track, as I end up forgetting them. 

- - -

My favorite authors are Palahniuk, Vonnegut, Klosterman, Serrano and Gladwell.

I also think Chabon is excellent, though I haven't read of him as much as I should. 

Same for Ta-Nehisi Coates. 

I still remember reading Savages by Don Winslow, and thinking the plot was just okay, but the prose itself was beautiful. 

I also really enjoyed 11.22.63 by Stephen King even if I didn't like the ending. 

Also, shout out Hemingway. 

- - - 

Seems like I should note my favorite podcasts as well, since they've replaced my leisure reading. 

The best podcast that I listen to is Revisionist History by Malcolm Gladwell. I love the premise of diving into something that is misunderstood and the stories are usually eye-opening and thought-provoking. Even if every season, there's always one episode where I disagree with his conclusions. 

Radiolab is amazing. 

The Dollop is great too. 

From the Ringer, I'm a big fan of Rewatchables. I'm in on anything with Shea Serrano or Klosterman, which include The Connect and Music Exists at the moment. 

I think it's pretty cool that 3 of my favorite 5 authors have podcasts producing new content in 2020.

2010 version

2020 Census: Favorite Foods

I like food a lot. Too much really. 

Which explains why I write posts like these.

But since I like food so much, I think it's worth noting which foods. First, some general observations. In my opinion...

Pizza is the world's most perfect food. The way the dough, sauce and cheese all cook together at the perfect time, the way that it combines bread, cheese, veggies and meat into one bite, that it can be a snack or a meal, the way everyone can get what they want on it but also a slice of plain cheese is always delicious. There might be 100 perfect foods in the world, but pizza is the most perfect.

Warm, buttered bread is the simplest perfect food. As I just said, there are many perfect foods. But a nice piece of bread like sourdough or Italian, still warm with some butter. It's perfection at its simplest.

It doesn't get any better than a cheeseburger. Like, you can choose to go to a very expensive tasting menu and try seven chef-inspired dishes...or you can have a good cheeseburger. At minimum, it's a draw. You just can't beat a cheeseburger.

My personal favorite food is barbecue. No other food brings me as much joy. You can taste how much time was spent preparing it, you can feel the love in it, and there's nostalgia wrapped around it for me as well. Burnt ends, ribs and fatty brisket are my favorites. 

- - -

Okay, let's get into it. I'll break it down by breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

Breakfast

At a restaurant, my go-to order is biscuits and gravy. 

At home, I love to make Aunt Gerties, the thin pancakes my Grandpa taught me how to make. Complete with sausage and country hashbrowns and orange juice. 

 

Lunch

When I'm eating whatever, Five Guys, Which Wich, Raising Cane's are some of my favorites. 

When I'm on track (which needs to be always), I can find good stuff at Chipotle/Qdoba, Twisted Fresh, Zoe's Kitchen. 

Dinner

I used to rave about steak, but now I'd rather eat barbecue than steak. 

I also prefer cast-iron food (like burgers) to grilled food.

The best dinner I make is probably the angel hair carbonara. 

At holiday meals, I love the white cheddar mac & cheese, twice baked potato casserole, and no-soup green bean casserole. 

Buffalo wings are a big winner for me.

For dessert, chocolate chip pie, pecan pie and dutch apple pie. 

- - -

I just looked back at my 2010 census post.

I still love Mint Milanos, Kettle chips and Tostitos with Lime. I don't get to have it much but I still love deep dish pizza and Italian Beef Combo (half italian beef, half italian sausage with hot peppers.)

Who would have known that my sports teams would change more than my tastebuds in a decade?

2010 version

Weight Loss By Month: September 2020

August:       12 pounds

September:  7 pounds

- - -

Let's back up a little. On Jan 1, 2020 I reached a new personal weight high. Over the next two months I lost a total of 19 pounds. Then a pandemic hit. From March through July, I gained 21 pounds. That's about a pound a week, just eating whatever I wanted. Lots of pepperoni and pepper jack sandwiches. Bagels and cream cheese. Nutter Butters. Things like that. More than the foods themselves, was the amount of food. Lots of snacks, big meals at every mealtime. Some people gain a Freshman 15. I gained a Corona 21. 

So if you're keeping track, by August 1, 2020 I reached a new personal weight high. And then over the next two months I've lost a total of 19 pounds.

This year I've gained 21 pounds and lost a total of 38 pounds. 

- - -

I've had a couple of realizations. 

1. I need to let go of the idea that I can eat whatever I want. When I'm not losing weight, which tends to be about 8 or 9 months out of a typical year for me, I base every food decision on taste. Like, I got into this habit with a co-worker that for every day we would go out to lunch and pick something that's delicious. Go to a sandwich place and get a big Italian sub with chips, or go to Five Guys for a burger with fries, or Raising Cane's for chicken tenders and fries, etc. 

Well, I'm now classifying that thought process of I can choose everything on taste as a "thought process from my 20's." I can't do that anymore. It's helped to talk to friends (who else?) like Niraj and hear him say that he tries to eat healthy meals for about two-thirds of his meals in a week. 

2. My mom told me I better get to my goal weight by 40 because it gets a lot harder after that. I'm three years away from 40.

3. I've never been able to eat at maintenance. But I've realized that my "maintenance" is going to be the same as what I'm eating now to lose weight. It's likely that if I keep eating exactly what I'm eating right now, (say 1750 calories) that my body won't lose weight on that forever. It will get used to that and I'll settle at a healthy weight. 

So yeah, I basically need to stick to how I'm eating forever. I've figured out how to do without writing things down. I just need to train myself that this how I have to do things always, not a temporary thing I can switch off for months at a time.

Fun Fact

The last time the Ravens had the ball with a chance to even tie the game was with 10 minutes left to go in the 2nd quarter. They went 3 and out. 

The Ravens cut it to 27-20 at the start of the 4th quarter. The Chiefs go out and execute a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to essentially ice the game. 

MNF Postgame - quick thoughts

Andy Reid was out there flexing on them. Middle screens, shovel passes, deep passes, lineman passes. 

Lamar is 0-3 vs Mahomes. 

Chiefs are in the driver's seat for the #1 seed, with a game in hand plus the tiebreaker over the Ravens, and 3-0 in the conference already. 

Chiefs have Pats and Raiders at home. Then tough game at Buffalo. But then...Broncos, Jets, Panthers, bye week. Even if they drop 2 out of the next 3, that's 7-2 at the bye. Plus, Denver, Miami and Atlanta in December. 

By the way, Chiefs just set a franchise record for consecutive wins at 12.

- - -

But my favorite moment of the night...

You wouldn't think it would be possible for Mahomes to win Super Bowl MVP and come in to 2020 with a chip on his shoulder, but he was ranked #4 in the NFL Top 100. Lamar got #1. Mahomes was watching that night and tweeting that he was taking note.

On Mahomes' first possession, he ran it in for a TD himself, as if to say you're not the only one who can score that way. Then after his fourth touchdown pass he did this:

Prior to season, Mahomes was ranked #4 on @NFL’s Top 100 list.

He’s counting to four, but not for the number of TD passes on the night. https://t.co/3HZ9zz00hq

— Jarred Latta (@jarredlatta) September 29, 2020

After the game he was asked if counting to four was about his NFL Top-100 ranking. "I think I had four touchdowns at that point," he said, with an obvious smile.

If I told you the Bears benched Trubisky in Week 3 trailing by 16 in the 3rd quarter, and then asked you to guess their record...I feel like 0-3 is the most likely result. 1-2, then 2-1, and finally 3-0 as the least likely. 

MNF quick thoughts

 Man, winning a Super Bowl changes everything. 

A year ago in this situation, I would be so stressed about tonight's game. Yes, there's a lot riding on it. There's only one playoff bye now, so if it comes down to Chiefs-Ravens for homefield advantage and the bye, this game counts double. 

But the Chiefs are 2-0 vs Lamar's Ravens and have already won it all. All the pressure is on them. The 2019 Chiefs faced a similar situation with the Patriots. In 2018, the Chiefs couldn't get by the Pats and the Pats won the SB. In 2019, KC beat them and went on to win. 

Now it's the Ravens turn. They have to get the monkey off their back.

Either way, the Chiefs will still be ahead in the Mahomes vs Lamar series and Mahomes vs Lamar rings rivalry. 

So I can just watch and see what happens. Here's hoping for a good game. 

2020 Census: Favorite Sports Teams

After looking forward to this series last year, it turns out I'm running out of 2020. 

Wait, that's a bad start. Let me start over. 

Welcome to the 2020 Hoagie Central Census. A personal time capsule so that every ten years I can take stock of who I am and what I'm into. First topic is an easy one. My favorite sports teams. 

The first is a no-brainer. 

After that, the next three are pretty close. I'm thinking about which teams I follow the news on the most, which games I watch the most, and which teams I'd most want to see win a championship. What makes this hard is that it's basically impossible to imagine Illinois Football winning a national championship. Even a Big Ten title seems out of reach. This shouldn't matter, but it ends up affecting things. I don't sit down and watch Illinois football games because they lose so much. 

If I could choose between seeing the Avs lift the Cup and the Illini cut down the nets in April...I'd rather see Illinois. For one thing, I am an Illini. I went there and graduated. I was born in Kansas City and moved to Colorado, but neither of those provides as much ownership as choosing where to go to college and actually becoming an Illini. 

Also, and maybe this is silly, but if the Avalanche won, I feel like the hockey world wouldn't care. It's no different if Tampa or Dallas win, just another franchise. They've already won this century. But if Illinois won a title? That's a reputation changer. College basketball fans would see Illinois differently. 

So here's where I stand right now:

(basketball)

(football)

Those are the four that I care about. Still don't have an NBA team or MLB team. I was a bandwagon Royals fan in 2014 and 2015 and thankful that I can go back to not caring about that team. 

I've been in KC for almost 4 full years now and never been to a Sporting KC game, so I'm not even bandwagon status there. 

Really, after those four teams above what I care about most is my Calcutta teams or my fantasy football team. 

And then when US Soccer or Olympic curling or whatever has a moment, I'm ready to hop on the bandwagon. Still hard to believe that after almost advancing to the final 8 in the 2014 World Cup, that the US missed the 2018 World Cup. 

2010 version

Travis Kelce, All-Time TE Most Yards Per Game

In the offseason, I wrote this: 

By the way, the all-time stats for tight ends, yards per game:

1st is Gronk with 68. 

2nd is Kelce with 67. 

3rd is Kittle with 65. 

Well, 2 games into the season and Gronk has fallen and Kelce has risen. Thanks for coming back Gronko!

New Stadium, Same Result: Chiefs beat the Chargers to get to 2-0

The NFL season just started and for some teams it feels like it's already over. 

Credit to Chargers defense, they pressured Mahomes and made him look downright human in the first half. I was down on the Chargers this year because I thought Taylor would be their QB for a while. Well, he was until his own team doctor punctured his lung. Now that's a bad way to lose your job. 

We got to see Herbert and he showed why he was worthy of a first round draft pick. The Chiefs trailed 17-6 with 23 minutes to go in the game.

In the 3rd quarter, Joey Bosa gets his first sack of Mahomes which leads to 4th and 15 on the LA 40. Not a lot of great options here. A field goal is from 58. A punt doesn't do much good. And 4th and 15 is a lot to ask. Andy Reid sent out Butker to try the 58-yarder. He cleared with 5 or 6 to spare. This would be important later.

Ensuing drive, Chargers are up 8 and driving. Herbert takes off scrambling and is about to pick up a first down and put LA in field goal range, making it a two-possession game. 

If you're Herbert in the moment above you have a few options:

a) run for the first down and safely go out of bounds

b) run for the first down and fight for every yard on the ground

c) chuck it across your body deep downfield into triple coverage

Now you or I might choose a or b, but we are not first-round picks. Herbert chooses c.

The rookie Sneed picks it off for the Chiefs, his second in as many games. 

Next drive, Mahomes does this:

Here's a tweet where you can see alternate angles. Hill is not at all open when Mahomes lets this one go:

That's Hill at the top of the screen, at the 33. He would catch it at the 8.

Tyreek takes his helmet off after the play, which should have been a penalty that moved the 2-pt conversion out of range. The refs don't call it and Mahomes converts that too. 

Then on the biggest play of the game for the Chargers offense, 3rd and goal, 3 minutes to go...Herbert holds the ball out for a handoff or fake handoff to the right side, and the running back is on the left side. 

At the end of regulation, Mahomes converts 3rd and 20 on the ground, and overcomes a bunch of penalties to send the game to OT. 

In OT, the Chargers faced a 4th and 1. They punted and never saw the ball again. 

Butker makes a 53 yard field goal, but there's a flag.

Butker makes a 58 yard field goal, but there's a timeout.

My legs are tired at this point and I'm only watching.

Then Butker makes 58 and that's the ballgame.

Here were the Chiefs possessions on Sunday:

Punt

Punt

Punt

Touchdown (xp blocked)

Punt

--halftime--

Punt 

58 yard Field Goal

Touchdown (2pt)

30 yard Field Goal

58 yard Field Goal

After four punts in the first half, Mahomes ends the game with 4 straight scoring drives. 

Mahomes, uh, finds a way. 

The last six times Mahomes has trailed by 10, he's won all six. Including three playoff games. That streak, is a NFL record by the way. 

- - -

That makes the Chiefs 11-1 vs the Chargers in their last 12 meetings. Beating the Chiefs is so rare for them, they printed up t-shirts the one time they did it.

T-shirts are cool, I guess. But I think the better fashion choice for winning a big game is a ring.