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To Baseball or No Baseball

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Weather in the Tries:
Stock up on ice, my friends. While Monday is a nice, low 85F for our high, we begin a low and steady burn to 87, 90, 92, 101, 106, finish the week off with Sunday being 103F. The good news is the pool is open and the sun is shining with no clouds in the sky.

To Baseball or Not Baseball: 
When I was a kidlet, living in Northwest Portland, Oregon, I loved baseball. I could sit on the front porch in the summer and have the radio on and listen to Bob Blackburn and Rollie Truitt call the games live from the Vaughn Street Park. It was many years later I learned they called the games from ticker tape that came into the radio station downtown. But I could hear the crowds roar from the stadium as well as from the radio.

I listened to the Countdown Podcast by Keith Olbermann for 20 Jun 24, in which gave an interesting tidbit about Willie Mays, and talked about why the World Series has lost so many fans through the years. That got me to thinking about why I no longer care for baseball all that much. I do admit, I’m not a huge sports enthusiast. I used to like American Football, until the dangers of being hit in the head came to light, and somehow, watching these overgrown kids playing a game lost its appeal. And now, they are discovering the same problems with Soccer (the rest of the world’s Football), and women are coming down with it now as much as men. 

But back to my real topic, about how I lost my love of baseball. One of Mother’s friends took us to a Beaver’s game at the Vaughn St. Stadium. I was so excited to go. It was hot. We sat in the bleachers in the full sun for a double header. And it was duller than watching paint dry, or grass grow, or a rock at the ocean be ground into sand. There were these guys on the field, wearing their pajamas, and standing around and running and batting now and then. BUT BOB BLACKBURN AND ROLLIE TRUITT WERE NOT CALLING IT. Oh. Emm. Gee. Booooredom. Bob and Rollie called it for the radio, brought it to life, a life I expected, not the life that was before me.

Eventually, I think the Portland Beavers disappeared. I know they moved to a different stadium, I think it was Multnomah Stadium, but by then, I really didn’t care. The next time I heard from Bob Blackburn, he was the radio voice of the Sonics, and though I wasn’t a great fan of basketball, I was a great fan of Bob Blackburn, and I became a fan of the Sonics. I actually did see a professional basketball game back in 1970 when I believe the Sonics played a California team in Portland as an exposition game to help bring professional basketball to Portland. A young hotshot player was in the game, Kareem Abdul Jabar? Wilt Chamberlain? Kobe Bryant? I don’t remember, but he seemed to stand around center court and not do much. We were pretty disappointed in him until the next morning the headline said he made something like 53 baskets! A record at the time. And we realized he was so gosh darn tall, he’d shoot from farther back than most. 

Since I no longer have Blackburn or Truitt to make sports come alive for me, I don’t listen or watch much anymore. And yet, if Keith Olbermann talks about sports, I’m spell bound. Those three men could, I’m sure, talk about the paint, grass, and or sand mentioned above, and make it the most interesting story on the radio/television/internet of the day. Oh, is Formula One racing a sport? I love F1 races as long as there is one really good, spectacular crash and THE DRIVER WALKS AWAY FROM IT! I also still watch the Thunder Boats when I catch them on streaming. And golf. I actually enjoy golf. Talk about going from the ridiculous to the sublime;-)

Oh, and I did listen to one World Series in 1969 when the Mets won their first World Series. As I recall I won a dollar off my grandfather on that one.

A note from/about one of my favorite authors, M. K. Tod:
She writes historical fiction, and I’ve yet to read one of her books I didn’t enjoy to the max! She sent a note advertising her newest book, which I have but have not yet read, and asked the recipients to take a reader’s survey. Which I did, and was asked both in her email, and at the end of the survey, to share the survey link. She would really like to get men to take the survey, as well as women, so please consider it. The survey takes about 10 minutes, or less. It’s not often you are asked for input, to help writers write what you’d like to read, so here is your chance. Just click the link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LSYVTG7

Photos of the Week:
This is a wee quilt I am making a friend. It will be about 16×20 when finished. She picked out and bought the fabric, and wanted it to be Mount Shasta and three of her sister mountains. I call it Purple Skies Over Mt. Shasta and Three of her Sisters. The title is almost larger than the quilt. I hope to have it finished this week. Well, the piecing. Then I have to figure out how to quilt it.

from the desk of the big chihuahua;
all week it will be sunny and really warm. I hope my human spends time on the patio, so I can go outside and keep her safe. I take my duty to guard her very seriously. she’s so funny. every time she leaves, she gives me a job to do. then she leaves and locks me in. how am I supposed to keep the hippopotamesses out of the parking slots? or the jiraffs and allegators out of our pond when I can’t open the door to go outside. and what are those things, anyway.

Quote of the Week:

Add life to day not days to life
                        ~ Samuel Sangwa.

An economic fix to gender wage disparity

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Weather in the Tries: 
Not as warm as last week, a chance or two of showers, hi 50s to low 60s with los in the lo-mid 40s. IF I trust the weekly forecast. It takes a tad bit to accurately forecast in March.

An economic fix to gender wage disparity:
Ever since I entered the workforce way back when, there has been a wage disparity between what men are paid and what women, who do the same job, make. And it hasn’t been in the female’s favor. Think I’m joking? Remember Carly Fiorina? When HP offered her the top job, she got a few thousand dollars less than her predecessor. There were “good” reasons, the company was making less, yadda, yadda, yadda, but I don’t think there is a single man on the face of this old globe that would have accepted such a deal. They would have upped the ante, demanded more.

Women have always been paid less than men for the same job. And there are always “good” reasons. Some I remember hearing: “You have a husband; you really don’t need this job.” “He  as a family, your husband outranks him. You’ll get the next open slot,” that one was when I was in the Military. We had to take a test for the promotion. I beat the socks off “Him” but I was a female, who outperformed the chosen male, ahhhhh. Some of the “We’ll spend all the time training you and you’ll just get married (and quit)/have a child (and quilt)/miss work every month for a couple days(and cost us more for health insurance)/always have excuses why you can’t work overtime”/and the list goes on. 

Of course, the biggest concern on making wages the same, is the cost. And yet, I argue, they will save money by making the pay the same. Hundreds of thousands, billions of dollars. And the fix is simple. I just don’t understand why businesses haven’t already figured this out. Why those high paid economists have come up with it. Why leave it to a numbers dyslexic person to figure it out. The solution is so simple, and it is staring us in the face.

Pay men the same as women.  There, isn’t that simple? Just think of the mind-boggling amounts of money that would be saved! (as an aside, there is an easy way of telling when traditionally held women’s jobs become well-paid enough for men to consider becoming teachers or nurses, etc. Yeah, when those women finally get some recognition, and some decent pay, suddenly, men realize they love children and teaching, or they truly are caregivers at heart. Yep, pay the men the same as women. Works for me!

Photo of the Week:

One of my friends, Roseann Ferris, had a very interesting, dare I say, “exciting”? life. While in college, she met and married the love of her life, an Iranian student. She followed him to Iran a year after he left. She stayed behind to finish her degree. Needless to say, when she followed him a year after their wedding, she went through some strange portal into a completely different culture where she knew nothing, including the language. Five years later, she was fluent in the language, and passed as Iranian from the north. And then the Shaw was deposed, and she lived through the Revolution until, finally, she and her husband, escaped to America. I haven’t yet read this iteration, but I read the earlier ones, and it is quite a story. Told from the perspective of an American who had every intention of making Iran her new home country. Both the paperback, and the electronic version are available where you normally buy books. Strongly urge you to buy a copy and read it. Here is the cover:

And here is Rosann, giving a talk just before reading a few pages from the book at her Book Launch, in Somer’s Middle Eastern bakery next door to my home 😉

I’m eager to read this final version. The earlier ones were fascinating. For a good read check your favorite bookseller.

from the desk of the big chihuahua;
not much going on. my human goes between the computer and sewing machine and reading a book. sometimes she comes in to lie down with me and let me snuggle for a while. never long enough as far as i’m concerned. but i takes all the bedsnuggles possible. they’re the bestest.