Surrender

Reading Surrender, the autobiography of Bono, lead singer of the rock group U2. I am not a big music guy, and U2 really hasn’t been on my radar screen these past 40 years. Bono was a nickname given to him by his childhood friends. He grew up in the church (where he met his wife). The book, like his music, is filled with stories and references from the Bible. Bono and his wife have done considerable charitable work their entire life, organizing movements to feed the hungry and treat the sick, helping raise billions for various charities.

At one point an automotive company offered U2 $23 million to use their hit song “A Street With No Name” in a car commercial. It was one of Bono’s favorite songs, that he said drew him closer to God. Bono, his wife, and the group agonized over the decision, knowing they could give away the $23 million to do so much good – but they turned down the offer, wanting the song to remind them of God, not a car company.

The introduction of another hit U2 song “With Or Without You” has a guitar solo made to resemble the opening theme of the late 1960’s TV show Star Trek, because a producer used to always quote the Starship Enterprise’s head engineer Mr. Scott. This audiobook is 20 hours long, but it remains interesting. Covers Bono’s entire life, from childhood on up.

NEWS: Matthew picked up his cat yesterday, so now Winnie can roam through the entire house. We no longer have to keep doors closed and gates up to keep the dog away from the cat. Our house is slowly getting back to normal, though M still has more of his stuff to pick up. M has as much kitchen stuff as we do – pots and pans, a blender, and lots of other contrapyions. C was using his coffee equipment, so when he moved she had to get her own coffee equipment.

I have never taken an Uber by myself. I don’t yet have the app on my phone. One time I was with Will and he arranged an Uber for the two of us. Not sure if he stiff does (I think so), but David Hurt used to be an Uber driver to make money. Matthew used to drive for Uber Eats, picking up food from restaurants and delivering to people’s homes. Not really my thing, but after big events like Braves games the charges can be really high (I hear).

I guess next time I go to Taqueria I will have to get one of those George things. I doubt Anna likes those ingredients, but I’ll have to tell her and Caleb about the George.

Monday: ran 4 miles at the gym. Cut grass for an hour out in the heat when I got home, so it was a 12,000 step day. Lifted weights at the gym this morning. Maybe I can lose more weight once I work my way through all these birthday deals of French fries and ice cream. I worked until 5:30. C had a conference call with other mothers at 6:30, so I stopped on the way home for (1) a milkshake from Steak & Shake, and (2) a Baskin Robins ice cream cone. C had made a tasty BBQ stir fry dish. I only had a few bites, but it was good.

Tuesday: lifted weights at the gym. Busy morning. Had to give a tour, so I was away from my desk. Better to be out in the plant in the morning than afternoon.

VIC WERTZ [SABR Bio] is the only player in major league history to have a season where he batted in more than 100 runs yet scored fewer than 50 runs himself the same year. In 1960, Wertz racked up 103 RBI yet only scored 45 X, with 19 home runs. Wertz was diagnosed with a non-paralytic form of polio in August 1955, but recovered well enough, fast enough to be in CLEs Opening Day Lineup In 1956. In G1 of the 1954 WS, Wertz was close to become the first batter to have five hits in one World Series game. Many players had hit 4 H. Wertz tripled in the first inning, singled in both the 4th and 6th then doubled in the 10th, but was robbed of another extra-base hit by this play in the 8^th (Willie Mays’ catch), one of the most famous outs in baseball history. It wasn’t until 28 years later that a player collected five hits in a World Series game, by Milwaukee’s Paul Molitor in G1 of the 1982 Fall Classic. On 10-April-1955, Wertz appeared on Ed Sullivan’s Toast of the Town television show (in Sept. 1955 was re-named The Ed Sullivan Show) with seven other big league stars.