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Friday, June 18, 2021

ENDS is a Good Name

Monday: interesting focus group with Older Ed, Cool Christopher, Determined Daniel, younger mom, and talkative lady. Subject: ENDS. Stands for Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems, a.k.a. e-cigarettes. The industry wants to distance themselves from old school cancer sticks, entering the lucrative market to keep their cash rolling in. Nicotine addiction has health consequences, just “not as bad” as old school cigarettes. The time paid well, better than most focus groups. As an older white male, my opinion seemed less important than the women and minorities.

Tuesday: Braves game with Rodney, Jonathan, & Jack.

Wednesday: zoom call with 11Alive sports reporter Alex Glaze about the Peachtree, then a in-person visit with Reid and Edie. I skipped a $30 focus group to taste hearty chicken soup. Ceil had a women’s Bible Study.

Thursday: McDonalds spicy chicken mcgriddles for breakfast. Whopper Jr and fries for lunch. Supper was free ice cream and popcorn at the game. Later on I got sick.

At 3:30 pm I landed the Braves tickets. Tried Don, Anna, Matthew, Ceil, and Rob. Will was working. Hurt out of town. Left work at 5:15, fought traffic and was pretty much inside the ballpark an hour later. Long line to the team store, but it moved quickly. Browsed for a while, and selected a navy long sleeve dri fit Nike tee with my ticket money. Saw a nice bucket hat for next time. Grabbed a free Coke, ice cream, and popcorn and settled in my seat in time for the anthem. Lots of Cards fans, but they’re far better than Red Sox fans.

The plan was to stay until both teams collected hits, then Braves starter Charlie Morton took a no-hitter into the seventh. Had a great time, but the Cards didn’t get their first hit until 9:20. I was home before ten.

Before going to bed last night, Ceil asked me to put a large hot pot in the fridge. Filled with chicken, broth, etc. I picked it up after clearing a space in the fridge. Put it back down and placed a hotpad in the fridge. As I was placing the heavy pot into the fridge the pot’s handle broke. The 30+ year-old pot dropped right on my bare foot. Broth spilled everywhere: inside the fridge, on the throw rug, and on my bare legs. I was scared I’d be burned, but wasn’t. Cleaned up the mess. Put on my Crocs to take the folded up rug outside. As I did the broth leaked everywhere, including all over my Crocs. Had to leave them outside as well. This morning our puppy was loving the chicken smell.

Denison: the Southern Baptist Convention elected as president Pastor Ed Litton of Mobile. Litton was nominated by Fred Luter, the only Black pastor to serve as president of the largest Protestant denomination in the US. Rev. Luter praised Litton's commitment to racial reconciliation and told messengers that he has dealt compassionately with the issue of sexual abuse within SBC churches as well.

ELMER FLICK  [SABR Bio] a future Hall of Famer who used his father's lathe to craft his own bat in the minor leagues. Used it with the Youngstown Puddlers of the Inter-State League in 1896, Flick pounded the ball for a .438 batting average with 5 doubles, 9 triples, & 6 HR among his 57 hits. He was forced to change teams as the result of an injunction by a state supreme court in 1902. Flick jumped to PHI’s intracity rivals, PHA, for only eleven games before joining the Cleveland Blues/Bronchos.  This latter change of scenery occurred because Flick wanted to avoid the legal ramifications of PHI’s court injunctions prohibiting 3 of his teammates who had jumped to the Athletics the previous year, from playing in the state of Pennsylvania for any team except the Phillies.  Flick was not named in the injunctions, but the results affected him.  The move cost Flick a chance to play on a pennant winner with the Athletics. Cleveland was glad to have a local boy to boost attendance. Flick was delighted to play ten miles from where he was born. Funded by donations from local residents, on 25-Sep-2013 a bronze statue of Flick was unveiled in his hometown of Bedford, Ohio. The Flick statue was created by noted local artist Ron Dewey and is permanently displayed in the Bedford town square.

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