Hey ... Remember Me?

 Well ... it's been more than a year since I've posted here. Why? 

1. I've been busy living my life.

2. When I've done any public writing, I've done so professionally (in other words, for $$$$).

3. I'm retired and lazy.

I think that about covers it.

Anyhoo, I'm not gonna make any New Year's resolution about posting daily or weekly or monthly (or even annually) to The Baldest Truth. All I'll say is, "We'll see."

But I'm here now, so here goes ...

The Bald Truth

A lot has gone on with my family since I last posted the day before Thanksgiving 2023.

The main happening of note: Robbie and I sold our home in Matthews, NC, and moved to Seattle to be near Katie and her family, who re-re-located to Seattle in August. (The grandkids had spent two years in Charlotte, reeling us in with their damn cuteness.)

Concluding a 6-week drive that included stops to visit friends and family in Wilmington, Hilton Head, Philadelphia, Easton, Detroit, Chicago, Middle Of Nowhere Wisconsin and Jackson Hole, we arrived in Seattle in mid-October. 

We've been living in a furnished rental while we look for our next home. It's been a humbling and somewhat intimidating experience, given the low inventory and the insanely high prices - basic starter homes that need work run $1 million plus. We are open to renting a nice place for a couple/few years, and we might end up doing just that.

I do miss a lot about Charlotte. I miss going to the Beer Temple every Thursday to get together with Gary, Drew, Scott, Tom and whoever else might join our group in any given week. I miss the monthly wild-card-filled poker nights that Bruce ran, and Jake's more serious Hold 'Em games. We miss our best Charlotte "couple friends," Karen and Tom. And of course I miss the weather - it's gray and rainy in Seattle just about every freakin' day. (But I do know from experience that the summers here will be spectacular, so less than 6 gloomy months to go!)

Life is filled with adventures big and small, and I've always felt that change is healthy. We didn't know a soul in Madison when we moved there as newlyweds, nor did we know anybody when we moved to Minneapolis after I got my first full-time sportswriting gig. We had some people in Chicago when we moved there, but we didn't have all that much opportunity to get together with them because we were busy raising our family. And then we knew absolutely nobody when we moved to Charlotte. At each stop, we carved out a fun, fulfilling and friend-filled experience for ourselves, and I have no doubt we'll do the same in Seattle.

It's certainly been great being around Katie, Ben, Owen and Piper. We see them all the time and enjoy the laughs, love and hugs. In just the past couple of weeks, I've gone with Ben to a Kraken game; I've watched the Sounders with Katie and her friends; and we babysat Owen and Piper so that Katie and Ben could go to dinner with Ben's family, who were visiting from out of town.

I also recently took Owen to a high school basketball game. It's obvious that my 4-year-old grandson is a huge basketball fan, based on his answer when I asked him during the drive home what his favorite part of the game was: 

"Getting a pack of Skittles."

The Balder Truth

Speaking of basketball ...

Last winter, I wrapped up the North Carolina portion of my coaching career. It was my 11th season overall, 7th as a middle-school girls head coach and 2nd at Socrates Academy, a charter school for smart kids that was just two miles from our house. 

Our top seven players from the previous season graduated, and this time we had a bunch of 6th-graders who were eager but mostly not experienced enough to compete against the many talented and older teams in our league. Although the final result was only my second sub-.500 record as a head coach (and first since my very first season), we still had a lot of fun ... and it again was wonderful having Katie as my assistant coach.

I got to Seattle too late to consider coaching here this season, and I haven't decided yet if I'll do so next year. I enjoy working with kids and I love the challenge of building a team, but it's also a solid 3-4 month commitment. And now that Robbie and I are both retired, I'm not sure I'm ready to give up that chunk of time. We'll see what's going through my head when the time to make a decision draws near.

A more successful basketball story for the 2023-24 season was written by my Marquette Golden Eagles. Coached by Shaka Smart and led by Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro, Marquette played inspired basketball all season and reached the Sweet 16 for the first time in a decade. 

I got to several games, including road contests against Butler and Xavier, as well as the first two NCAA Tournament games. MU was 6-0 with me in attendance - I guess I should have gone to the NCAA Regional game we lost in Dallas, dammit! As Steve Martin used to say (back when he was funny): "I blame myself."

We have a real good team again this season, with PG Kam Jones playing like an All-American and getting excellent support from several others. I'm planning to go to three games with my friends in late January. There's also a pretty active Marquette Club in Seattle, and Robbie, Katie and I went to a game-watching event to see the takedown of the always-evil Wisconsin Rodents.

Personally, the best thing about Marquette's resurgence has been the way my old MU buddies like Chodz, Jim and John have really gotten into the team. We have text chains going during every game, we've gotten together to go to numerous games, and it's just been a lot of fun. So thanks to Shaka and the guys! Sports brings people together - one of many reasons I love them.

THE BALDEST TRUTH

Unfortunately, I spent pretty much all of 2024 dealing with serious back problems. At first, it was general soreness in the mid-back to upper-back area that kept me from doing activities I enjoy. But things got worse, and in May an MRI showed that I had a compression fracture. The pain had gotten unbearable and it took a long time for me to be able to do even mundane tasks like tie my shoes or shave.

We ended up having to cancel a scheduled trip to Europe, missing our niece's wedding (Congrats, Caroline and Daniel!), as well as a Rhine River cruise. Total bummer.

While dealing with my injury, I ended up putting extra stress on my lower back and neck, and those became problem areas, too. Making matters even worse, I got the run-around from my health-insurance company and couldn't receive the physical therapy I desperately needed.

Finally, after moving to Seattle, I decided to pay out of pocket for a highly regarded physical therapist - who also happens to be my first cousin's son-in-law, Phil - and I'm doing a lot better now. I've still got a ways to go to be able to do the real fun stuff (such as golfing, or picking up a grandkid), but at least I'm mostly able to function.

I'm looking forward to getting back to full strength in 2025. And it will happen!

Bits & Pieces

• Just because we're in the Pacific Northwest now, it doesn't mean we'll be traveling less to Chicago, where Ben, Sammi, Jack, Logan and Noah live - and where we still have many friends from our 16 years in that great city. We already have a trip scheduled for early 2025 and another tentatively planned for the spring. Our hearts will always lead us to Chicago over and over and over again.
• We lived in the Charlotte area for 14+ years, and in our house on Hickory Lake Lane for most of that time. It was the longest I had lived in any house as an adult - easily beating our 10 years at Bell Ave. in Chicago. The only abode in which I resided longer was 59 Wheeler Avenue in my hometown of Milford, CT - the only house I knew until I went away to college.
• I'm still writing investing articles, but I'm now doing so for a subscription service on the Seeking Alpha site. After years of writing for a free site, I didn't love switching to a situation in which folks have to pay to read my stuff, but that's the most common model in this day and age. And the money I get for writing still buys my beer (and, hopefully soon, my golf) - and that ain't nothing.
• Sadly, Robbie and I lost our best friend of 13 1/2 years in August, when Simmie died. She was a loyal, loving and funny pup, and we still talk about her often.
• I just realized I didn't announce my Sports Turkey of the Year for 2024, but my choice shouldn't surprise anybody who follows the NFL (or to any of my Chicago friends). It's obviously former Bears coach Matt Eberflus, who oversaw a dysfunctional, easily distracted, fundamentally weak crew of losers. I was tempted to pick one of those losers - Tyrique Stevenson, the pathetic fool who was busy taunting the crowd while Washington was in the process of launching its winning Hail Mary play. But even that screw-up ultimately belongs on Eberflus, who built a culture of pathetic foolishness. 
• It was pretty easy becoming a Seattle Seahawks fan after my long run cheering for the Carolina Panthers. It's not as if I was born and raised a Panthers fan, and I simply want to pull for the team where I live. Unfortunately, the Seahawks have been mostly frustrating in my first season rooting for them. I've even accidentally referred to them as the Panthers a few times - and that's no compliment! 2015, when the Panthers went to the Super Bowl behind Cam Newton, Luke Kuechly and a cocky cast of characters, will forever be one of my most fun seasons as a sports fan.
• I'm rooting for a Bills-Lions Super Bowl so that one of those teams' long-suffering fan bases can enjoy the ultimate feeling.

And with that, folks, I'm out. No promises about when I'll post again to TBT, but I will someday! 

Happy New Year, everybody, and may 2025 be filled with love and laughter and compassion and peace.

 

 

2 years in N.C., y'all!

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Sunday marks our second anniversary as North Carolinians (and ex-Chicagoans).

Love the weather in the winter, spring and fall; miss seeing all those sailboats on Lake Michigan in the summer.

Love the year-round golf; miss teeing it up with the Chicago buddies who used to take my money on the course.

Love getting away from Chicago and Illinois politics; hate North Carolina politics.

Love hearing folks say "y'all"; miss hearing folks say "da boata dem."

Love having an affordable house on a quiet cul de sac; miss living in an apartment in the heart of Lakeview with lake and city views.

Love having gotten in with some local Marquette alums; miss being close enough to Milwaukee to go to games.

Love that a 30-minute rush-hour commute is considered "long"; hate that we pretty much have to drive everywhere in a pedestrian-unfriendly city with lousy public transportation.

Love playing 12-inch softball again; miss covering big-league baseball.

Love the cheesy grits; miss the pizza -- and most other Chicago foods.

Love the friends we have made here; miss the friends we left behind there (and really miss Ben and Katie there).

Will we spend the rest of our lives in the Charlotte area? Who knows? Will we ever move back to Chicago? Who knows?

Life is an adventure, and our journey has taken us here. Why fight it, y'all?
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Missing Chicago ... and loving Charlotte

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Hard to believe, but it's been a year since I became a North Carolinian. Mostly, it's been a positive experience, though I've missed plenty about my former home.

Which brings me to today's topic ...

FIVE THINGS I MISS ABOUT CHICAGO:

(*I'm not going to include the obvious: family and friends. Of course we miss our kids and the great friends we made during our 16 years in Chicago. That's No. 1 and 1A on any list!)

5. The skyline and the lake.

We lived just a few minutes from Lake Michigan and I miss those walks we'd regularly take -- although I don't miss trying to dodge bicyclists, skateboarders, rollerbladers and runners on weekends!

As for the skyline, we loved it so much that in 2004 we spent way too much money on a poorly built condo just because it had an incredible view. Thankfully, we got out just before the housing market crashed and spent our last few Chicago years in a 17th-floor Lakeview apartment that had a pretty decent skyline view of its own.

I don't know why, but I never got sick of looking at that skyline. It truly was awesome -- not the way the word is used today to describe everything; it really did inspire awe.

4. Milwaukee.

Yes, being able to get to Chicago's largest suburb in 90 minutes was a big deal for me. My little brother lives there. My alma mater is there, and I liked to catch a few Golden Warrior Eagles games a year. The best frozen custard on the planet is there ... I'm talkin' Leon's; don't settle for the chains!

Every time I go to Milwaukee, I have a good time. As a bonus, I get to experience great memories of all those brain cells I killed as a college kid.

3. Pizza.

I hate to sound like a pizza snob, so I cringe a little whenever a Charlottean asks what my favorite pizza joint in town is. But I can't help myself and invariably say something like: "Well, an average Chicago pizza place would be the best pizza place here."

What a pizza snob!

When we visited the kids last month, we went to our favorite -- Pequod's -- and I savored every morsel. I think I could get rich by opening a Pequod's South here, but maybe not. Maybe they are conditioned to mediocre (and worse) pizza in these parts.

While I'm on the subject of food, I miss those great South Side BBQ joints, the wide variety of ethnic food, hot dogs and other encased meats, and the hamburger place that was right down the street, Flub A Dub Chubs. (Maybe I just miss saying the name.)

2. Baseball.

Though neither Cubs nor Sox fan, I miss having a home game in my town every day from April 1 to Oct. 1. I miss the annual rite of passage: Cubbie Hope turning into Cubbie Angst and then into Cubbie Resignation. I miss the inferior complex on the South Side.

Oh, and I might as well say it: I miss the cash I used to make covering baseball for AP.

1. The city experience.

When we moved from Minneapolis to Chicago in 1994, we surprised ourselves by choosing to live in the city. I mean, we had even lived in the burbs in Madison! Chicago seemed to be such an intimidating place, dangerous even.

It wasn't always a perfect experience. I hated driving there so much that we went down to one car and often went a week without using it. We had two grills and three bikes stolen, reminding us that although we lived in a nice neighborhood, it still was a big city with big-city problems. Chicago politics was rife with corruption and bullspit. Winter sucked, with its howling winds and ugly mud-snow mix.

And yet, I wouldn't trade those 16 years for anything.

Our kids went to public schools and learned firsthand the ideals of tolerance and inclusion. Chicago was a living, breathing anthropology class.

We could walk to most things we needed, and we happily used trains and buses to get to almost everything else.

Then there was just the feel. Going for a walk (especially on a weekend) in Lakeview or Lincoln Park or downtown, one can't help but be impressed by the vibrancy of Chicago.

There were many days I'd take one of those walks with no destination in mind, just to experience that vibrancy, and I'd think: Wow, what a great town this is!

And now, let's give equal time to my new town ...

FIVE THINGS I LIKE ABOUT CHARLOTTE:

(*Again, this is in addition to the many friends we've made!)

5. Convenience.

It's nice to have a 2-minute drive to the grocery store. It's nice to live where the rush hour is normal. It's nice to have several parks and other natural areas near us. It's nice to not have to drive 45 minutes (or more) to enjoy a decent golf course.

Parking downtown is so plentiful and inexpensive, it seems quaint compared to the parking nightmare we left behind. And parking at the airport is $4 per night. That's right: 4 bucks!

4. My jobs.

It took a little while to find my groove in a new town, but both my coaching gig at Country Day and my golf job at Ballantyne Country Club have been all I could ask for.

3. Spring and Fall.

The way the trees get full and green by early March is spectacular. Fall weather here is perfect and golfing is great well past Thanksgiving.

Oh, and winter ain't half-bad, either.

Yes, summer is hot and humid, but I can't think of one thing I haven't done just because of the heat and the humidity. And it's not as if Chicago doesn't have heat and humidity, too.

If I believed in jinxes, I'd be worried about jinxing it. But I don't, so I'll say it: The weather in my first year in Charlotte actually exceeded my expectations.

2. Simcha.

As long as we lived in an apartment in Chicago, we going to be dogless. We planned to get a pooch when we got settled in our next house, wherever that might be. It didn't have to be in Charlotte, I suppose; we could have ended up in Chapel Hill or Phoenix or Sarasota. Still, Simmie is such a wonderful addition to our family, it almost seems we were destined to rescue her from the Charlotte shelter.

Lucky her ... and lucky us!

1. Our home.

Financially, it's hard to argue that buying a house was the right move. The market is still stumbling here and we probably could have saved thousands by waiting.

Owning a home shouldn't be about the investment, though. That's one of the things that got our country in a mess. A house is not an ATM or an annuity. It is a place to live, a place to go home to at the end of a long day, a place to be with your loved ones.

In addition to having everything we need on the inside, our house has a screenroom that overlooks our heavily wooded backyard. The deer walk past almost daily. We have tree buffers between the houses on both sides, adding to the peaceful feel. (That being said, we have great next-door neighbors!) Our street is quiet and well-located near a park.

Sure, having to mow the lawn and fix things and deal with the unpleasant surprises that crop up is a pain. Nevertheless, I'm glad my beautiful wife talked me into being a homeowner again, because the pluses far outweigh the minuses.

When we're ready to sell in 5 or 10 or 20 years, who knows if we'll even make money? We might lose money, but we were going to have to pay rent all that time anyway.

In the meantime, we have put down roots for the first time in years. Life is good.
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A most memorable whitewater experience

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I had out-of-town visitors last week and took them to the U.S. National Whitewater Center, a relatively new Charlotte facility that hosted the 2008 Olympic kayak trials.

We went rafting on the manmade rapids (more on that later), kayaking on the nearby Catawba River and ziplining. I even took a 46-foot leap off a platform -- the Mega Jump -- with a cable attached. We could have done rockclimbing, an obstacle course and other activities, too, but we were too exhausted and sun-drenched.

As for that rafting experience ...

Our guide calls himself Capt. Dan. He was so tan it looked painful, as if his entire body and face had been stretched to the limit and then wrapped in a leather girdle. It quickly became obvious that he was full of himself, as he rattled off the names of the dozens of rivers on which he had steered rafts. Oh, and he spoke in a fake, sometimes unintelligible southern drawl; I mean, the dude's bio says he's from Hoboken, N.J.!

Simply stated, Capt. Dan was a piece of work.

Two in our party were kids and two more were middle-aged ladies, and Capt. Dan soon became frustrated that power and teamwork were lacking. Near the end of our five-run trip, he pretty much gave up on us ... but not before our raft capsized, spilling all of us into the water.

It was a brutally hot day, so I didn't mind the swim, but one of the women in our group briefly had gotten trapped under the raft and started panicking a little. Thankfully, she came out of it just fine.

So was the whole day a disaster and, given the nearly 50-dollar-a-head price, a rip-off?

Not at all. While it wasn't quite the same experience as actual rafting on an actual river, we had a lot of fun.

And Capt. Dan gave us something to talk about for the rest of the weekend, maybe even for the rest of our lives.
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Surprise, surprise! July in Charlotte is hot

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Played golf yesterday courtesy of my new employer, Ballantyne Country Club. It was 96 degrees and the dew point (whatever that is) was 89. So the heat index (whatever that is) was approximately a gazillion.

I was drenched in my own perspiration. I actually had to turn my cap backward to putt because beads of sweat were running from my forehead to the bill of my cap and dripping down at my feet, a most distracting thing.

But I drank a lot of water. I survived. And believe it or not, I even had fun.

Roberta and I weren't born in Charlotte. We weren't raised here. And we weren't forced to live here. We chose to relocate to a place where the summertime air is so thick, you practically can reach out, grab it and wring it out.

We knew about all that coming in, so to complain about it now would be pretty pathetic.

I like to look at it this way: It's perfect weather for brewing sun tea, my favorite beverage.

I also like to look at it this way: Autumn and spring in the Carolinas are spectacular, and this past winter was a great winter to be nowhere near Chicago. The price for that goodness: a few steamy months.

Oh ... for the record, I had five pars, a bunch of non-pars and finished with a 97.

As those who have golfed with me in all kinds of weather know, I'd be pretty dishonest if I tried to blame the heat index.
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Toto, we're not in Chicago any more

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On Tuesday, I went to work and accidentally left the garage open for about 3 hours. I was humiliated by my mistake and promised my wife (and myself) it would never happen again.

The very next night, we came home from the store at about 7:30. When I woke up this morning, I was mortified to discover I had left the garage open all night long.

It absolutely, positively will never happen again. Really.

By the way, nothing was stolen either time.

Had I committed a similar screw-up when we lived in Chicago, the contents would have been emptied and the garage would have been stripped clean - door, opener, lights, sheetrock, nails and all.

That's not necessarily an indictment of my former town; it's just reality in the big city.

We resisted suburbia forever. But we're fast learning that laid-back - and, OK, a little boring - has its privileges, too!
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Hot in Charlotte ... and in Blue Valentine!

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70 and sunny in Charlotte today! I miss lots about Chicago, but the weather ain't one of them!

On another note ...

I mentioned in yesterday's post that Roberta and I saw Blue Valentine. Though the movie is more than a little depressing as it chronicles a couple falling out of love, it is powerful. The acting, with Michelle Williams and Ryan Goslin in the lead roles, is top-notch. It's not anywhere near my Oscar choice, but it's still worth seeing ... with a disclaimer:

If you are even a little prudish or the least bit uncomfortable seeing naked bodies grinding on the big screen, this is not the flick for you.

The sex scenes were intense and graphic. The soft-core porn HBO shows late on weekend nights (from what I hear) leaves more to the imagination than Blue Valentine's many sex scenes.

There. You've been forewarned. Now, did I mention that I wore shorts and a t-shirt on the long walk Roberta and I took today? Nice!
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They told me Charlotte's avg Jan temp was 51!

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Here's our new(ish) car -- which we bought after our last one got totaled in an accident -- covered in wintry fun after our lovely snow/ice storm.


Jeesh ... I moved south for this?

Here's hoping my fellow ex-Chicagoan, new Panthers coach Ron Rivera, knows what he got himself into.

And on another note ...

That was a hell of a game Monday night, wasn't it?

Of course I'm not talking about the pretend college football championship game. Everyone who knows me knows I didn't watch that.

No, I'm talking about Marquette taking Notre Dame behind the woodshed for a good ol'-fashioned whuppin'!

The most fun a Golden Warrior Eagles fan can have with his clothes on.
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