Astro’s Games

Can’t say I’m an Astro’s fan. Can’t say I’m a hater, either. But I do like watching some baseball, and they are the closest MLB stadium. So Astros and Braves, or Los Bravos.

Here’s the deal: The Braves have the best play-by-play announcer in the business. Seriously, a really good announcer. He’s got a voice, knowledge, and what seems like a genuine love for the franchise and heartfelt adoration of the game itself.

From unrelated press material, one of his part-time associates, a serious pitcher, I gather, the announcer’s goal was to make the other guy laugh.

It’s easy to feign enthusiasm for a little while, but this has been going on for years, so it seems.

Astro’s Games

It was a tragedy of small errors in the first two innings, Braves up by 1. It was a bunch of innings of pitchers, then relievers, without a lot action, until the top of the last inning. 5 runs on singles, a little bit at a time, and then, a fan favorite, Jesse Chavez closed it out. The Braves fans easily outnumbered and certainly out-cheered the H-Town people.

I would think A.J. Minter would be a fan favorite in H-Town, as a he was a product of almost local A&M.

Treebeard’s at the Cloisters

What makes good collard green great? A hunk of ham. Or a liberal dose of bacon bits. Done right? This is a benchmark southern delicacy.

By the heritage marker outside, I think, Episcopalian from 1839, with the most recent structure only dating back to 1938? (porous memory)

“When the juries are sequestered, this is where they bring them.”

Either way, really acceptable southern cuisine in its finest. Bonus points for church setting.

Astro’s Games

Not much of a game, especially with the rest of the leagues with their upsets, dramas, shenanigans, and sordid stories.

Early in the season, the Braves were grinding out a win, until that final inning. Stick around.

A rather drunk Astro fan?

“Our team sucks.”

Not really, jut not playing as a team, besides, baseball? Always an element of luck.

Searching the web for Houston dining, ballpark ideas, I stumbled across an old post about Tuesdays being dollar dog night.

“Is it really dollar dog night?”

I pointed in the direction of the kiosk with the sign, then left them, “but only for Braves fans.”

Astro’s Games

“A pale horse…”

• : iPhone 14 Plus
• : 16 April, 2024
• : no
• : 5.7mm
• : 500
• : 1/50s

First Lie Wins

The old aphorisms? “First liar never has a chance,” while Mark Twain once wrote, “there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.”

“It’s always best to keep the lie as close to the truth and say as little as possible, but this feels more than that.” Page 19.

True that.

What a delicious, and twisted, little thriller. As suggested, the liars never win.

Or does she?

First Lie Wins

It was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club book, and I wondered about that, but the text was good to the last page, well-crafted suspense.

Clever characters.

Horoscopes 4-16-2024

“The ripest fruit first falls, and so doth he;
His time is spent, our pilgrimage must be.”

King Richard II in Shakespeare’s Richard II (2.1.153)

Horoscopes 4-16-2024

• Sun enters Taurus 4/19 – Sun enters Taurus 9 AM
• Jupiter/Uranus 4/20 10:59 PM 21°50’ Taurus

Horoscopes 4-16-2024

Please support public libraries.

#shakespeare
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• : iPad Pro (11-inch)
• : 25 November, 2023
• : no
• : 3mm
• : 125
• : 1/60s

O, when she is angry

“O, when she is angry, she is keen and shrewd!
She was a vixen when she went to school;
And though she be but little, she is fierce.”

Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream (III.ii.323)

#shakespeare

Mercury in Retrograde coffee

There are a few different location where I’ve found this stuff. Varies. Varies from location to location.

Mercury in Retrograde coffee

Look: when I first arrived in San Antonio, there was no third-wave coffee. It was either Starbucks or convenience store crap. According to some who are better than me, the difference between the two are negligible. I am — I have become — a simple Starbucks person. I like an Americano, or straight up iced espresso, their styles. I tend to shy away from fruity, blended drinks, and I tend to steer clear of the mostly milk drinks. I like coffee, though, and I’ve gotten to a place where plain, strong coffee serves me best.

I was thrilled when I was in a tonier neighborhood, and their Starbucks had this offering of specialty-roasted, hand-picked, single-source, dime-bags of coffee beans. Artisanal. Artful.

There was a little note clipped to each tiny bag with a short explanation as to the source, the flavors, the notes to look for, and what it meant. Truly third or even fourth wave coffee, at least in presentation.

The packaging and marketing is excellent.

The coffee itself?

Mercury in Retrograde coffee

While I am no great connoisseur of coffee, I know what I like, and I know what I can taste. The difference between the expensive, artisanal bags, and the regular roast that is twice as much coffee for the same price? No difference.

To me, the stronger, darker roasts, actually cheaper, taste better. That might be me, I’m willing to concede.

But the expensive crap, while it looks great? I have a comparison point, and the attempt by the Starbucks doesn’t hold up.

Occasionally, my sister sends me some little bags of expensive coffee from a local roaster someplace close to her in Northern Cal. What I’ve noticed, every time I open the sealed bag of beans, usually an 8 or 12 ounce bag? The aroma of the beans fills the kitchen. The smell, the roasting, the art of preparation is that pervasive.

Lately this has been Red Whale Coffee.

That’s the good stuff.

Mercury in Retrograde coffee

It’s not really an expensive mistake, but one I’ve made more than once, and this popped up with the current Mercury in Retrograde situations.

Heading out to meet friends, drink coffee, and get the day off to a better start with camaraderie, coffee, and conversation?

I have to remind myself, despite having the points on the stupid little Starbucks card, not get the expensive, artfully packaged, dressed up coffee beans. I’ve been let down, every time. No, they’re not bad, but the cost-to-performance ratio doesn’t add up.

Maybe I don’t have that refined of a palate. Maybe I don’t understand the subtle nuanced nose of single-origin, individually batch-roasted beans. Or maybe, since I’ve experienced the good stuff from CA? Maybe a dependable bag of Starbucks Italian Roast is good enough.

Mercury in Retrograde coffee is best in bulk, not rarefied.

the Portable Mercury Retrograde

• : iPad Pro (11-inch)
• : 26 August, 2023
• : no
• : 3mm
• : 80
• : 1/60s

Odd Saturday

Odd Saturday

Shortened store hours, still us, and still there, with all the details to make life bearable.

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#horoscope