Willie, Donald, France, and more

Posted on June 21, 2024 by AverageAndy

Very sad to see the passing of Willie Howard Mays Jr., nicknamed “the Say Hey Kid”, Willie was an american professional baseball center fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball. He is considered one of the best to ever play the game.

His over-the-shoulder catch in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series is one of the most famous baseball plays of all time. 

Willie was slightly ahead of my time, and I barely remember when he was traded to the NY Mets in 1972 before he retired in 1973.

Besides his play on the field (He was inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in 1979, and his 24 appearances on an All-Star Game roster are tied with Musial for second all-time, behind only Hank Aaron’s 25), he was also considered on of the kindest, nicest and generous person to be around

Willie left is mark in the world, and will be missed

RIP Willie Mays


We also lost actor Donald Sutherland. One of this generations greatest actors, he appeared in more than 50 movies and TV Series I remember him from “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, “Animal House”, The Hunger Games” and one of my favorites “The Eagle Has Landed“

He was turley one of the best, and he will be missed

RIP Donald Sutherland

Was fun to see Survivor 45 contestant Drew Basile (@DrewBasile45) competing on Jeopardy this week. He beat Adriana Harmeyer — a 15-time winner who works as an archivist at Purdue University who accrued almost $350,000 on the show — and Tekla Sauter to take home $23,482 on his first Jeopardy night. He then won $9,800, in his next appearance leaving him with a two-day total of $33,282. Looking forward to see if he can make it 3 in a row tonight

The NY Mets are playing some good baseball and it started with Grimace threw out the 1st pitch against the Miami Marlins . Hopefully they can keep things rolling and get back to .500 and beyond

And finally, I really enjoyed my 35th Lehigh Reunion, and our family trip to France (Strasbourg and Paris). Will post pictures and write about it in my next post

#PEACE

#AverageAndy

Posted in Baseball, Drew Basile, Lehigh University, Reality Shows, Survivor, The Eagle Has Landed | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Vacation

Posted on June 7, 2024 by AverageAndy

Taking a vacation with my family to the city of Strasbourg, France. Looking forward to some rest and relaxation as well as taking in the culture and history of the city.

Few things

Mets play the Phillies in London this weekend. Need to at least split the 2 games

Tonight is Pat Sajaks’ last show as host of Wheel of Fortune — He is retiring after hosting the show for 41 years, and will be replaced by Ryan Seacrest next season. Best of Luck

Watched the first 2 episodes of Star Wars: Acolyte — Mixed feelings about this. Really like the Star Wars Universe, but not a big fan of the story line (to many cliches / coincidences) and the actress who plays the main character is just not that believable to me.

Hard to believe it, but I’m going back to Lehigh University for my 35th college reunion. Should be a fun time catching up with old friends.

Really liked “The Veil” on Hulu with Elisabeth Moss.

#PEACE

Listen to Music, Read a Book, Take a Walk

Average Andy

PS — One I’m back it will be time to gear up for getting my latest Survivor audition video ready for submission. Look out Season 47 and Season 48, Andy is coming

Posted in Adam Klein, Baseball, Dalton Ross, Friends, Jeff Probst, Jesse Tannenbaum, Lehigh University, NY Mets, Reality Shows, Sports, Star Wars: Acolyte, Television, The Veil, Wheel of Fortune | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lots of Driving, Cards, and Survivor 46

Posted on May 31, 2024 by AverageAndy

Drove over 2000 miles last weekend to go our friends daughters wedding in Warm Springs, GA. Had a great time and congratulations to the new couple. The drive was long, but really not that bad. We stopped several times for gas and food (Loving my Prius Prime and the 50+ mpg). Shout out to Jersey Mike’s Subs for being supportive, and super helpful preparing a gluten free sub. We used Google Maps, and it seems that they have upgraded things, as it knew every road and turn to make, and even diverted us from road closures and sever weather.

The weekend before last, I also drove a lot as I headed to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center for the 80th Philly Non-Sport Card show. I went both Saturday and Sunday as they were giving out different promo cards each day. They even gave out a 2 exclusive Garbage Pail Kids Metal Promos for those who stayed to the end on Sunday.

Thanks to Non-Sport Update for the free promo packs each day, and to Rittenhouse Archives / Cryptozoic / Ted Dastick Jr. for handing out additional promos at their boots. I also won a prize at the Rittenhouse booth which was a nice surprise.

Rittenhouse Archives had some cool cards from their upcoming “Cheers” card set. Looking forward to this and to see what they do with this set. Hopefully it leads to a few more sets based on classic old TV shows.

I was also able to pick up a bunch of Star Wars and Star Trek insert cards for my sets. It’s getting hared to find older inserts (at a decent price) so was happy with what I got.

All and all, it was a fun two days of seeing old and new collectors and browsing through all the different types of cards (Autographs / Sketch / Memorabilia / Inserts)

Rittenhouse Archives
Rittenhouse Archives
Rittenhouse Archives – Cheers
Rittenhouse Archives – Cheers
Ted Dastick Jr. – Promos

I actually enjoyed Survivor Season 46 and was glad the Kenzie was the winner. She played a great social game and was able to get people to genuinely like her. It’s very hard to really connect with people and not have them feel you are being fake or multipartive towards them. A while back, players started thinking that the way to sway the jury’s vote in your favor was to gather information about each player during the game and then repeat it back to them, showing that you really care about them. The difficult part of this is being genuine and believable. I felt that Kenzie was a genuine nice person and truthfully cared about helping the other contestants. Really listening and caring about others is a skill and something that future Survivor contestants (hopefully myself) should really focus on. The current jurys want to like you as much and maybe even more than just look at your accomplishments. Telling them that it was your big move to vote them off now comes across as degrading unlike years ago when big moves were what would get you votes. Kenzie did the best of adapting to the current mindset of the contestants (and all people in general) in realizing what the jury wanted to see and hear.

Read this article by Rob Has A Podcast host Rob Cesterino about how things have changed over the years as far as the way the game is played. Similar to what I have said, you need to adapt to the times if you want to win Survivor, even if its not making big moves, or padding your resume for the jury. You need to get the jury to like and respect you and want to vote for you regardless of how you play the game.

As for the game play in general, I do agree with several things I have read that the format has gotten a bit stale. The producers (including #JeffProbst) seem to be focusing on getting players to play one way, while the players are playing a different way. This has made things a bit slow and underwhelming. When you have five players get voted off with immunity idols in there pockets, things need to be re-evaluated. I can’t pretend to understand what goes through people’s minds, but I don’t understand why people wouldn’t keep them self safe for another day. Were they afraid that if they played and idol, that they would become the main target the following week? Did they want to hold on to their idols so they could tell the jury, “I had and idol and didn’t need to play it”? Were they really just that unaware of what was going on and believed it when everybody said they were safe (even after the blind sides the week before). While blindsides used to be interesting (I liked it when people were completely shocked, surprised and genuinely upset when they got voted off). This season (and in the new era), is seems people are happy they got blindsided and take it as a complement for playing a good game. This does irk me. When I am a contestant, my goal will be to win and do whatever it takes. I would not be concerned about how other people judge me or my game.

As far as idea to make things a bit more inserting, they need to get rid of the beware advantages. Penalizing people for finding an advantage just seems counter intuitive. I understand they want to make people work for things, but I’m guessing that people would play harder if the reward was positive instead of a potential negative. You can still make it a multi-step process (I liked when they made the players have to say crazy things to get others to respond), but take away the lost vote penalty part and I believe things would would be better. Also put a time frame of things from the beginning. Idols should have to be played within two tribal councils once found. You could even have it so that you could leave an idol after you found it and then go back and get it later if you wanted to risk things. In the meantime, if somebody else happens to find it, then you would be out of luck.

I would also look to change the fire making challenge at the final 4. This seems to be universally un-liked since it was introduced. Having somebody who worked hard all game and win the last immunity challenge should not have to possibly give up there immunity and have to wind the fire making challenge to prove that they deserve to be in the final 3. You could have the 3 people left all make fire with the first two to complete it going to the final 3. This takes the choice away form the winner.

I have some more ideas and will post them next time

Time to run

#PEACE

Average Andy

PS — Still sad that CBS decided to cancel CSI:Las Vegas. The show was really good and was really enjoying it. Hopefully it comes back in some way (streaming or even another network).

Posted in Adam Klein, Card Collecting, Christian Hubicki, Christine Hofbeck, CSI:VEGAS, Dalton Ross, Fun and Games, Jeff Probst, Jesse Tannenbaum, John Cochran, Mark Burnett, Mike Gabler, Non-Sports Cards, Parvati Shallow, Philly Non Sports Card Show, Reality Shows, Survivor, Television | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Survivor 46 is in the books / Happy Memorial Day

Posted on May 23, 2024 by AverageAndy

Congratulations to Kenzie Petty for winning the fire making challenge, and then winning Survivor 45. I am very satisfied with the outcome and happy to see her win (and prove my prediction wrong). She played a great game and deserves the title of Sole Survivor.

I will be out of town this Memorial Day Weekend to attend a wedding so will not have the time to post more on the Survivor 46 finale, , The 80th Philly Non-Sport Card Show, the ending of CSI:Las Vegas, and the New York Mets. Will make sure to carve out some time once I return to get my thoughts on all these things written down.

Hope everybody has a great Memorial Day Weekend as we move into Summer 2024. Stay safe

#PEACE

AverageAndy

Posted in Baseball, Card Collecting, CSI:VEGAS, Dalton Ross, Holiday Weekend, Jeff Probst, Jesse Tannenbaum, Mark Burnett, Non-Sports Cards, NY Mets, Philly Non Sports Card Show, Reality Shows, Sports, Television | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Lost of quick thoughts and the Survivor

Posted on May 17, 2024 by AverageAndy

After a 3 year run, this Sunday is the series finale of CSI:LasVegas. Though the show was really good and sad to see it go. Maybe one of the streaming services can pick it up (The CSI franchise has a long history, and there are some really cool things that they could do. If your a fan, please take some time to sign this petition

Saw “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” and really enjoyed it. Glad to see the franchise moving forward and looking forward to where it goes.

While driving around last Saturday morning, passed a recreational area with lots of kids outside practicing and playing lacrosse. Was really nice to see all these kids out being active. Made me feel good (and realize not every kid sits home on the internet all day long). Have also seen some crowds at the local little league fields.

Why does every car commercial (both on TV and the Radio) show cars doing things that 99% of drivers will never do. Speeding through cities and forests, driving through rivers and up the side of mountains. On the radio, heard a commercial for a XXX where they were late to the zoo, but with their XXX the were able to zip through the entire safari in 15 min. Screw slowing down and actually enjoying something. With the XXX you can just speed through everything and never enjoy anything

Will be heading to the 80th Philly Non-Sport Card Show this weekend at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA – Hall B. Lots of free promos will be available. They have made it a bit more interesting as there will be different prom cards available Saturday and Sunday, so I will be attending both days. Will take some pictures and post pictured of some of the promos and other cards I pick up.

As for Survivor, It makes no sense to me that the players don’t play their hidden immunity idols after all the time and effort they put in trying to find them. And for Q not to play his idol at the final 6 is just crazy. He could have guarantee himself a 1 in 5 chance of winning a million dollars, or risk getting blindsided for a 1 in 4 chance. It’s not like he was guaranteed to get voted out at 5. He didn’t really know who was going to be voted off, (If he played his idol, it would have Charlie) and whoever it was may have given him a better chance at winning the final immunity challenge which would get him t the final 4 as well.

For 4 players in a row to not play their idol and get voted off is just strange. I believe some players knew that Tiff had an idol, which is why they were searching for a replacement idol. Charlie had to have at least suspected that it was found by Venus after the way she was talking to him. Was he just that good to get her to believe she was safe an not play it. And Q had to know that he was at least a target to Liz. How he didn’t realize there was the possibility he was not safe is baffling.

Here are the final 5, and my perdition on how things play out (just my opinion)

Maria, Charlie, Kenzie, Liz, and Ben

Charlie wins immunity, and Maria is voted off

Charlie wins immunity again, and takes Ben to the Final 3

Liz beats Kenzie in Fire and joins the Final 3

Charlie wins Survivor 46

Finally, take some time to watch the Jon Stewart video below

After watching this, I am beginning to think people need to step up, call these people out, and vote these idiots out of office. Not sure of the best way, but I’m beginning to think that I need to do more and am looking into the best way to get the word out.

#PEACE

AverageAndy

Posted in Card Collecting, CSI:VEGAS, Dalton Ross, Fun and Games, Jeff Probst, Jesse Tannenbaum, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Mark Burnett, Movies, Non-Sports Cards, Philly Non Sports Card Show, Planet of the Apes, Radio, Reality Shows, Survivor | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

One, Two, Three, (Survivor Idols)

Posted on May 10, 2024 by AverageAndy

Happy Friday Hope everybody is doing well. Stay safe and dry and have a great weekend

Want to give a shout out to Andy Kim, “I’m blessed & honored to celebrate with each & every one of you who’s loved this song, the 50th Anniversary of Rock Me Gently.”

Every once and awhile, I think about the Porsche from the “Gumball Rally” and think what a cool car that is.

Saw this quote“I was looking at a 69 911 targa in the FS section. It made me (actually I always have) wonder what ever happened to the 69 911 E targa which was in the classic flick The Gumball Rally from 1976.”

Alway thought Andrew Yang had some interesting views and ideas. Here is his recent TED Talk. Interesting stuff.

Andrew Yang TED Talk

For the third tribal council in a row, a contestant was voted off of #Survivor46 while not playing their hidden immunity idol. I know that Jeff Probst said that is was due to good game play and the ability to keep people from really knowing about the vote. I think this is fair for Tiffany, but both Hunter and Venus had to play their idols. Hunter was basically scrambling to get information at tribal council. How much more uncertainty do you need. Your 9 people away from a million dollars and you don’t take the free pass you worked so hard to get. And Venus basically set herself up to fail. She got to cutsey with Charlie — either tell him the truth or don’t say anything. Then play your Idol which gets you to the final 6 and play from there.

I did notice this season that a lot of the players seem to be treating things as an adventure rather than a game. They also seem to be thinking too much about the future, and not enough about the present. Getting rid of your allies may seem like a good move (get them before they get you). But that also makes you lose focus on the other players who want both of you out and are more than happy to have you do the work for them. I know this is the new era of Survivor, with things set up to make it hard for an alliance of 4 run the table from 7 to 4, but it shouldn’t be automatically dismissed.

Should be an interesting last couple of episodes. If I had to pick a winner right now, I would go with Charlie or Kenzie. Think Maria and Q have dug themselves into a hole they will not be able to get out of. Ben and Liz may make the final 4, but don’t see them being able to step up their game to win a challenge or immunity if needed to get them to the end.

#PEACE

Average Andy

#NeverToOldForSurvivor
#GiveMeAChance
#Survivor

Posted in Andy Kim, Dalton Ross, Jeff Probst, Jesse Tannenbaum, Mark Burnett, Movies, Music, Reality Shows, Survivor, The Gumball Rally | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Random Thoughts for a Sunday (in Milwaukee in the Rain*)

Posted on April 28, 2024 by AverageAndy

Here are some things that I have seen and heard the past few days, and some of my thoughts on them

Very sad to see the the passing of Sonja Christopher, the fists person ever voted out of Survivor A former music therapist, she competed on the reality competition’s first season, Survivor: Borneo, at 63 years old in 2000. Really nice to see all the posts and tributes for Sonja, showing the impact Survivor has had on people over the past 24 years.

Rest in #PEACE Sonja, you will be missed.

As a Trading Card collector, I always wished that a company would have put out a set of Survivor Cards (other than the one below put out by Upper Deck in 2001)

I while back I even tried to create a set of Cards for Season 1 (Survivor Borneo) with the thought of possibly getting them autographed.

Speaking of Survivor, just saw @JeffProbst announce that #Season50 will consist of returning players. While I always liked it when they brought back players from previous seasons, I always felt a bit jealous as they got to play the game I love for a 2nd, 3rd or 4th time, while I am dreaming of just getting a call back from casting and chance to show the producers that I would be a great contestant. At 57 years old, I still feel I would bring a lot to the show and prove to myself and others that I have what it takes to compete with younger and more athletic players in a game to Outwit, Outlast and Outplay them all.

I’m here and waiting, so give me a call, text, email or even a letter letting me know where and when you want to meet and get to know me, and I promise you will not be disappointed

Switching gears, I have been following the New York Radio Message Board for a long time. As a life long New Jersey resident, I grew up with New York Radio as the background of my youth. WNEW (102.7) with its classic DJs, WAPP (100.3) with its commercial free Summers, WPLJ (95.5) with its classic morning show, and WXRK (92.3) have all had a large influence on me over the years. Reading industry insiders, and radio experts views and opinions has given me great insights. But I also shows that as people get older, they get stuck in their ways, and really dislike change. There are still people on the message board complaining that CBSFM switch away for oldies over 10 years ago. They complain how radio executives are out of touch with listeners and how come radio stations don’t play more of the songs they like, and lest of the songs they don’t. This brings me to Howard Stern

While I was not a huge fan of Howard Stern, I always gave him credit for being true to himself. Once he left terrestrial radio and moved to SiriusXM, people though he would get even more nasty and controversial , since he could now saw whatever he wanted with no censoring. But over the years the opposite happened. He became more entertaining and a great interviewer, able to book top level celebrities, musicians, and recently the President of the United States, Joe Biden. My wife listens to Howard all the time, and I will listen along when we are driving. Yesterday while running errands, we listed to a replay of the interview with Joe Biden. Taking any kind of politics out of it, I really enjoyed it and how Howard was able to make it feel like two people sitting down for a honest conversation. But because of the world we now live in, some posters on the NYRMB complained on how much of a powderpuff interview it was, and why Howard didn’t focus more on things going on in the world like wars and trials. This made me think that the people complaining have not listened to Howard in years, and are just going on there feeling from years and years ago. Go back and listen to his past interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, and Hilary Clinton. They are very insightful. Howard does his research, and gets his guests to open up and have some very personal discussions.

For those who think that todays Howard Stern is the same as 30 year old Howard Stern should take some time to listen to him now before just throwing out old grudges. Its just lazy

For the record, there are plenty of times when listening to Howard in the car with my wife, where she will turn him off and stay she hates that particular bit. I acknowledge his antics and humor are not for everybody, but you do need to give him credit where credit is due.

The New York Mets look a little fatigued in dropping the 1st two games to the St. Luis Cardinals. Looking for a bounce back game today. Baseball is a long and grinding season, the the good teams are the ones that can avoid long stretches of bad baseball. The Mets have enough talent and should be fine, but just need to play with a bit more urgency.

Really enjoying “These Silent Woods” by Kimi Cunningham Grant. Switching things up a bit and trying to read books that are different than what I usually read. I will get to the new books by Clive Cussler / John Grisham and Dean Koontz soon, but just need a change of pace for a bit

Watch “Dune” last night and really enjoyed it. Thought is was very well done and it was refreshing to watch a big budget Sci-Fi movie that didn’t over do it with way to much CGI. Was able to follow the story without being bombarded with extra characters and scenes just to showcase what they can do with special effects. Heard good things about ‘DUNE Part 2’ and looking forward to watching it soon. I am also interested in the new Planet of the Apes film “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” coming out soon. A huge fan of the original Planet of the Apes films of the 70s, I was a bit disappointed in some of the remakes, although I did like” War for the Planet of the Apes”. Will definably be checking out the new one in the theater, and will let you know my take

Sitting in Starbucks and writing this was very therapeutic and relaxing. Hope to continue writing more

#PEACE

#Survivor #Survivor50 @JeffProbst @MarkBurnett @DaltonRoss @JesseTannenbaum

#NeverToOldForSurvivor #GiveMeAChance

AverageAndy

*Sugar Mice by Marillion

I was flicking through the channels on the TV
On a Sunday in Milwaukee in the rain
Trying to piece together conversations
Trying to find out where to lay the blame
But when it comes right down to it there’s no use trying to pretend
For when it gets right down to it there’s no one here that’s left to blame
Blame it on me, you can blame it on me
We’re just sugar mice in the rain

Posted in Baseball, Books, Bruce Springsteen, Card Collecting, Clive Cussler - Dirk Pitt, Dean Koontz, Dune, Fun and Games, Howard Stern, John Grisham, Kimi Cunningham Grant - These Silent Woods, Music, Non-Sports Cards, NY Mets, Planet of the Apes, Radio, Sports | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mets / Giants / Survivor and the RRHOF

Posted on April 26, 2024 by AverageAndy

After a rough start, the NY Mets have turned things around and have been playing some solid baseball. I will take a 3 – 3 west coast road trip vs the Dodgers and SF Giants. Now back home for the next seven games against the Cardinals and Cubs — Hoping they can go 5 – 2.

With the 6th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the NY Giants selected Wide Receiver Malik Nabers from Louisiana State University. Glad the drama of the draft is over after weeks of worthless discussions on what the Giants should do. They need to move on from Daniel Jones and draft a QB; They need to draft an OL; They need to draft a WR; They should trade up; They should trade down. Yawnnnnnn. In the end, the teams make their decision and selection and we as fans, now get ready for the 2024 Season.

On to Survivor. Need to write down some of my thoughts on this season, and the new era of Survivor. Also what is the deal with people going home with an immunity idol in their possession.

I can’t really figure out anybody’s strategy in Survivor 46. One minute they want to vote off somebody that they are not aligned with, and then the next minute they try and switch the vote to somebody they are really tight with. Everybody seems to want to make a big move, for no real reason, than they think they can’t win without having a big move on their resume. This is very short sighted, as most of the moves have put people in worse position. You have Liz in tears because Q overshadowed her so called big move to get Tevin off. And you have multiple players like Tervin and Venus trying to take credit for getting Soda voted off. Just play the game to get to the final 3. Then you can tell the Jury about the big moves you made to get there.

Speaking of making it to the final 3, how can people be voted off in the final 10 with an hidden immunity idol in there pocket. Hunter threw away a guaranteed 1 in 8 shot at the $1,000,000.00 for a 1 in 7 chance (with the possibility of getting voted out with no chance). Especially since he had some inklings that he may be the target. Play the Idol, see how tribal plays out, and live for another day. You never know – The next day you could win individual immunity, Jeff could be some sort of twist, or maybe people need you as a number to get rid of someone else. Also once an idol is played, another one if usually put back into the game. Maybe you find the new one. The thing is, there are lots of better options than holding on to your idol.

I know there are plenty of contestants who have went home with idols in there pocket (including James from Survivor China) who went home with 2 idols. Would be interesting to see player get more creative with an idol. Though the rules were a bit different, when Yul Kwon found an Idol on Survivor Cook Islands, he let people know he had it, and used it to his advantage. Others have also used the idol as a kind of bargaining chip to get further into the game. It is a bit strange, that with all these advantages (idols, extra votes, steal a vote, …) that there are very few times that the advantages have made a difference. When Im a contestant, the others better watch out, because there is no way I would just hold onto my idol with hopes to squeak by until the final 5. I will be wheeling and dealing and making people guess what I am going to do.

And finally congratulations to all the acts that got elected to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last week. While I think the nomination and election process is biased towards the RRHOF Committee Members (They have an agenda, and continue pushing it regardless of what anybody outside of their small circle thinks – The MC5 missed getting voted in six times, so the committee just added them this year), the acts that got voted in all deserve to be acknowledged. With Journey a few years back, and Foreigner getting in this year, maybe the doors get opened for other so called “corporate rock” rock acts like Styx, Boston, Kansas, and Bad Company will eventually get the recognition they deserve.

That’s it for today. More to come

#PEACE

Average Andy

Posted in Baseball, Boston, Christian Hubicki, Christine Hofbeck, Dalton Ross, Football, Foreigner, Jeff Probst, Jesse Tannenbaum, John Cochran, Journey, Kansas, Mark Burnett, Mike Gabler, NY Giants, NY Mets, Parvati Shallow, Reality Shows, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Sports, Styx, Survivor | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Finally Made it

Posted on April 21, 2024 by AverageAndy

Found some time and made it to one of my local Starbucks. I was able to access the internet and my WordPress blog from my laptop and will now try and get some of my recent thoughts out here for all to see.

I had to get a new iPhone a few weeks back. Besides having a cracked screen (my first cracked screen ever, after having an iPhone for over 10 years), the voice quality was terrible, and people were often unable to hear me on a call. It was a pretty painless transition, and I give Apple a lot of credit. Simply backed up my old phone to the cloud, placed it next to my new phone and let it transfer everything. Once it finished transferring everything, I was up and running on a new iPhone 15 Pro.

There were a few things that I had to do manually — I needed to re-enter/reset some of my passwords for some apps and I needed to set things up to use my original phone number (As part of the upgrade, I got a 2nd number add to my phone as part of a way to get more value for my trade-in)

I forgot that the new iPhone 15 Pro now has a USB-C connection instead of the old Firewire connection. This meant I needed new charger cables and new USB-C headphones (I am a bit old school and still prefer wired headphones over Bluetooth when going for runs/walks. I lost one of my ear pods (low-cost JBLs) when it dropped out of my ear, hit my phone, which was in my hand, and flew into the woods never to be found. I do like the new magnetic chargers that snap onto the back of the phone.

With that out of the way, here are a few things that bothered me this week

I stopped by QuickChek on my way home from work and saw that they had some new ChargePoint EV Chargers installed. I have a Prius Prime Plug-In Hybrid and wanted to see what they were charging (ChargePoint Chargers costs are set by the individual providers). It stated that the first 30 minutes were free, and after that, the cost was $60.00 / hour. And in small print, it stated a $2.50 access fee. So even if you plugged in for 30 minutes, you still would pay $2.50. In contrast, at work, we have ChargePoint chargers, and the cost is $0.75 for the first 2 hours and then $1.50 per hour after that

I am OK with the cost at work; my hybrid plug-in takes about 2 hours to charge at the station and gets around 30 miles on a full charge before the gas motor kicks in. This comes out to around $0.05 / per mile. On the flip side, A two-hour charge at QuickChek would run me $2.50 plus $90.00 (at $1.00 / min) or $3.08 / mile. Even if I just charge for the 30 free minutes, it still comes to $0.33 / mile (after the $2.50 service charge). Needless to say, I will not be using the ChargePoint Stations at QuickChek

Quickly want to mention that it is getting harder and harder to take either political party’s side and views seriously. I consider myself a Democrat, and I think most of the Republicans and their views are just whacked. But that doesn’t mean that all Republicans are awful people. The Democrats must be careful about how far they push their narrative without crossing the lines of truth. Let the Republicans bury themselves with their own actions, and don’t keep trying to find a gotchya moment. I have faith that most people are good at heart, and if you let things play out, the old-time and crazy Republicans will do enough on their own to cause them to lose future elections.

I actually found it refreshing to sit and write at Starbucks, and I plan on doing it more. But I do have things I need to get done today, so will be signing off for now.

Starbucks

#PEACE

Average Andy

Posted in Announcement | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Still having trouble coming up with things

Posted on April 19, 2024 by AverageAndy

Didn’t get a chance last weekend to get out and write some things here.

Had a live in person Fantasy Baseball Draft on Saturday. Every year the same sat of guys get together in person (going on our 30th year) for a Roto Style Draft. — I have been the league commissioner for most of the time, going back to when I had to manually gather the stats from box scores in the Sporting News and score things by hand. Things got easier when I was able to upload a weekly statistic bundle (Using dial-up access through AOL). Eventually sites like http://www.yahoo.com and http://www.cbssports.com started offering Fantasy Baseball Online with live updating of the stats. Now you can run multiple leagues all online, including having your draft on-line. While this makes things super convenient, we still like to get together once a year for a live in person draft (I is a chore to get 10 people together in person, but we have been able to do it year after year

Rotisserie League Baseball (1994 Edition)

On Sunday, went out and got a bagel and then got an iced coffee and spent some time reading at Starbucks. Find it very relaxing and I am able to read for a bit without falling asleep if I were home. I should have brought my laptop and spent some time writing here on the blog, but told myself I had a bunch of things to do around the house, and I also wanted to sit back and relax and watch the Masters (Congratulations to Scotty Scheffler for winning his 2nd green jacket). I am planning on bringing my laptop this Sunday, so come back and see if I can get past any mental blocks and get some of my thoughts down on the blog

The New York Mets have tuned things around and are playing some solid baseball. The have now won 4 series’s in a row and climbed back over .500 at 10 – 8 after a rough 1 – 5 start. Good to see them playing as a team and everybody contributing. They now have a 6 game west coast trip against the Dodgers and Giants. Hopefully Lindor, McNeill, and Nimo can use this time away from home to get things going; If they do, this team can be really good.

Been a really interesting season of Survivor. Crazy how things have changed over the years, to the point of the game being played completely different than in the past. There seems to less long term planning, and much more of a kumbaya feeling with everybody rooting and trying to get along with each other. In the past, people seems to be playing much more of an individual game, with the emphasis on winning more than havening an island adventure. It is fascinating to see how things have evolved, based on the changes (Length of the game, different advantages and idols) that the producers have made. It’s also interesting seeing things we probably would not have seen in the past with 60 minute episodes.

I am enjoying my new routine of watching on Wednesdays, listening to the On Fire PodCast before going to bed, and then getting up and reading #DaltonRoss Survivor recap on X. Wish that they would bring back the Poderosa videos of the jury members. Always liked the insight and perspective from the eliminated players.

Crazy that I have been watching Survivor for 24 years and still look forward to every episode. Hopefully one day I will be able to experience it as a player and have some big time Survivor Fan watch me as I Outwit – Outplay – Outlast a group of players and add my name to the list of winners

#PEACE

Average Andy

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