Matty's Meals

Tonight A&C came over. Matthew cooked a pork shoulder and baked and filled creme puffs.

Last week against rival South Carolina, Clemson QB DJ Ulagalelei had a QB Rating of 27.5, which ranked him 100th in the nation. UNC wunderkind Drake Maye ranked 63rd in his OT loss to NC State. In losing to Michigan, former Heisman front-runner CJ Stroud of Ohio State ranked 59th. Perennially underranked Stetson Bennett ranked 17th and Bama’s Bryce Young ranked first. Full season rankings below.

1. 90.1 Jalon Daniels Kansas

2. 89.5 Hendon Hooker Tenn Injured

3. 87.6 CJ Stroud Ohio State

4. 87.1 Bo Nix Oregon transfer

5. 86.8 Caleb Williams USC

7. 84.9 Stetson Bennett UGA senior

8. 83.9 Bryce Young Alabama junior

9. 83.8 Drake Maye UNC freshman

14. 79.7 Max Duggan TCU

16. 78.1 JJ McCarthy Michigan

18. 77.8 Jayden Daniels LSU injured?

48. 65.9 DJ Ulagalelei Clemson junior

51. 65.2 Kyle Vantrease Ga Southern

54. 64.2 JT Daniels WV senior transfer

68. 57.5 Spencer Rattler SC peaking at the right time

69. 57.3 Darren Grainger GA State

102 43.7 Jeff Sims GT (to transfer)

The AJC reported that Brent Key was the first Georgia Tech letterman to be named head coach. The kid reporter must’ve never heard about William Alexander, Bill Fulcher, Pepper Rodgers, and Bill Curry.

GT basketball – one of the experts on social media was talking bad about the coach – still Pasner, right?  Not sure of Pasner’s contract status. We’ll see if the new AD is a hatchet man. With Syracuse playing Illinois last night, I guess its time again for the ACC Big Ten Challenge. That thing has been going on for almost 40 years it seems, 30 at least. Now I'm hearing that this is the last year of it.

Worked until 5:50 yesterday. Didn’t have time to vote. Went home and cleaned up a bit. Watched Jeopardy and Young Sheldon, and later when Ceil arrived we watched Peyton’s Places. Also the football rankings show on ESPN.

Ran three “fast” miles this morning at the gym. Today was month end so I drove in to the office.

Several of the guys are getting together for one of our periodic lunches, this time at a place in East Cobb called Taqueria Tsunami. I’ve been there once before. Going to look at the menu to decide what to get.

Every time I go to OK Café I don’t get enough to eat. Maybe I’m not ordering the right thing.

Man I haven’t been sick in a long time. Then last Thursday or Friday I realized I didn’t feel so good, and worried I might be getting sick. In that rare instance I will load up even more on the rest, vitamins, and liquids, but being in SC I didn’t have my usual stash. But the tired feeling passed, and I felt okay the rest of the time. There was a recent joke about a stealth version of covid with no symptoms, you feel okay, and you always test negative. Maybe that’s what I have.

BABE RUTH  [SABR Bio] was the first major leaguer to cross the plate more than 150 times in a single season in the Liveball Era, with 158 in 1920. He tthen did it an additional four times: 1921 (177); 1923 (151); 1927 (158); & 1928 (163). Carl Hubbell surrendered the slugger’s first National League home run. Ruth’s 709^th career home run came in his first game as a Brave in Boston on 16-Apr-1935. Ruth is the only player ever to rack up more than 200 hits in the same season he was walked more than 140 forty times. He did it three times, in 1921, 1923 & 1924. No one else has done this even once.

Denison on how the protests in China are affecting US stock markets.

https://www.denisonforum.org/daily-article/the-most-severe-test-for-president-xi-since-he-took-power-the-latest-on-chinas-anti-lockdown-protests/

Patterson's Blow Back

I am reading James Patterson’s novel “Blow Back: An American President Goes Insane”. Not similar to any actual events or people in real life, but still fast-paced and very good. The real-life story below seems right out of the pages of a spy novel I might read. Never used to hear about strange, sudden disappearances and deaths of prominent people in real life until the past few years. It’s an evil, crazy world we live in.

I tried to link an article about the Belarus minister and Putin ally who died after secret talks to end the war in Ukraine. Had problems with this post, and finally deleted the link. Later today there was another article about one of the top cryptocurrency dealers whose helicopter crashed. Perhaps I should reconsider my grandfather name (Krypto).

Speaking of my grandfather name, I think it's ahead of its time. Some people (like Ceil) just can't handle it because it's so unorthodox and non-traditional. Just hope the new world order doesn't erase me, like in Blow Back.

At work I had to take the 50 minute class on inclusion, diversity, harassment, etc. and pass the test at the end. I answered all but one correctly. Interesting photos and videos of a diverse set of employees of all nationalities and colors, but the only white faces were my age and older. Most of the bad examples were provided by actors either white or older, or both. As an older white male, I can feel the target squarely on my back, as if all eyes and ears are on me, just waiting for me to say something politically incorrect. I can handle 99 situations correctly, but is HR is waiting for me to slip that one time? Such is corporate America in 2022.

BREAKING: Shivonne is officially a walker.

As The Jackets Turn: okay so now the reports say GT is finalizing a deal to hire interim coach Brent Key for the permanent job, “to be finalized within 24 hours”. That’s what they said about Coach Willie on Sunday. This Key report seems credible, as GT waited until the middle of the USA soccer match to leak the news. Not the first time Tech announced something while everyone was tied up with something else. Then the new AD with the funny name introduced Key as the new coach, so it's a done deal. But will the wide receiver pull out of the portal? Highly unlikely. We shall see what tomorrow brings, on the next episode of “As the Jackets Turn”.

The Braves were one of 30 teams to pass over drafting Aaron Judge. The pitcher the Braves picked instead is no longer in baseball.

Ronald Acuna won the Venezuelan home run derby, and was mobbed on the field.

Economic Author warns ‘I believe the economy is the biggest bubble in world history,’, "God have mercy on us all".

Anna and Ceil ate at Taqueria on Sunday while they were shopping. 

A good small group meeting last night with John, Reid, and Robert. Then home to let Ceil watch two episodes of Peyton’s Places. 

Lifted weights this morning with Reid at the gym. Will work late today and hopefully vote on the way home. 

Might have to watch Saturday Night Live for a change.

WALTER JOHNSON  [SABR Bio] is the only pitcher to lead his league in strikeouts as many as twelve times, in 1910, 1912-19, 1921, 1923-24 – all with Washington. He is the only pitcher in the Modern Era with more than 150 career extra-base hits as a batter, with 159 XBH. Red Ruffing (148) and Cy Young (140) are the only other pitchers with more than 125 career XBH. Johnson was nicknamed before interstate freeways existed.  “Big Train” was the nickname bestowed on Johnson by the sportswriters of the day. Interstates became a thing in the Eisenhower administration.

At work today I was forced to watch a soccer game again, so I shared a couple of tweets with my coworkers.

The Jackets' New Coach?

Yesterday there were reports GT had hired Tulane coach Willie Fritz, previously of Georgia Southern. But did they?

Today they're saying GT is interviewing another candidate. It's not really on my radar screen, so I have to search for updates. But a faction of Tech fans (how many could there be?) are mounting a "We don't want Fritz" campaign. Great. Soon Tech will be as dysfunctional as Auburn.

Ceil's brother wasn't a fan of the Coastal Carolina coach, who is said to chew out his players in front of everyone during games. GT didn't get Bill O'Brien, the offensive genious who's coached at New England, GT, Houston Texans, and now Alabama.

Seems clear that Key is not their first choice. Perhaps since Tulane is in the conference championship game this next weekend, they're trying to delay the announcement. Not sure. Hopefully GT won't let all the good candidates get away and have to settle on a lesser candidate, though I'd be happy with Key. So would some players.

Also reported: GT QB Jeff Sims is transferring. Not sure where he will land. He better watch out: when star RB Gibbs transferred to Alabama after last season he got plenty of playing time, but didn't set the world on fire. Might've gotten in Saban's doghouse for not blocking.

BREAKING: Tech's leading receiver is also transferring. He better watch out as well - word is the portal will be filled with talented receivers.

The two GT QB's that played on Saturday seemed to do a good job.

Man if LSU was playing better I'd say UGA might be ripe to be upset. Dawgs offense is not clicking on all cylinders, but perhaps they've just been working on the running game the past few weeks. Does Stetson have a sore shoulder?

I never said Clemson would make the playoff. Not with QB DJU. Dabo is digging his own grave playing DJ. If DJ returns next year the Tigers will be no better. But UNC is worse. Clemson will win this Saturday in Charlotte but not make the playoff.

Sunday School. Teaching Pastor Stephen Bonham's sermon from Sunday: click here to listen.

Afterward Ceil went shopping with Anna, her roommate Ashley, and Caleb's mother, who'd we'd just seen at JFBC. On the way home I stopped by McDonalds, Dollar Tree, Goodwill to drop off giveaways, and Ace Hardware. Later I went for a free carwash.

Watched some Falcons and Peyton's Places: throwing passes to legendary receivers Calvin Johnson & Lance Alworth, and restocking grocery shelves with Kurt Warner.

Later a double feature: "A California Christmas" and the sequel: California Christmas: City Edition". The movie where they turned a sacred Christmas carol (Oh Holy Night, I think) into a romantic slow dance. I went to bed at 9:30, before the sequel was over. Spoiler: "the other Manny" must've drawn his character's inspiration from Booger in "Revenge of the Nerds".

Ran three miles this morning after not much exercise the past four days. Gonna be a busy three days for month. Cleaned out 80 emails this morning, and I have a list of month end projects to knock out. Small group tonight.

My watch and phone were happy with me catching up on my sleep this weekend, averaging over 9 hours of sleep the past five nights.

Caleb & Anna will have their pre-marriage counseling with Heather Swilley Taylor and her husband Lee, a staff member at JFBC. We spoke with Lee before Sunday School yesterday. He is a hoot.

To help with global warming climate change, some want to block out the sun. What could go wrong?

Block the Sun? Is Lex Luthor now the Secretary of Energy for Biden? foxnews.com

Not just a recession, but a complete reset of the world's economy?

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://fortune.com/2022/11/23/how-bad-economy-recession-top-economist-mohamed-el-erian-federal-reserve/__;!!AE29DT8V!QOuP2q6mwVBdkeDb2nQRMIjU5GXOf9Q3rCP3kEgS4K3b5P0HB0uSweypSfXE_W6o8e3E3SONyQM5nsonV84$

DALE MURPHY  [SABR Bio] is the only player to score more than 130 runs in a season for the Braves in the Modern Era. He crossed the plate 131 times in 1983, his second MVP year. Coming close was Rafael Furcal who scored 130 runs in 2003. Murphy was only the second Braves outfielder to win a Gold Glove. The first of Murphy's five straight GG was in 1982, the year of his first MVP. At that point the only other Braves OF with a GG was Hank Aaron in 1958, 59 & 60. Since Murphy, 7 more Braves OF have won at least one gold glove. As much as anyone else, it was Jack Dunn who helped him get started in his pro career. Jack Dunn (not THAT Jack Dunn) was Murphy's coach in American Legion ball and high school, and also a family friend.

Sunday

 
After yesterday's game Kirby wore on of Vince Dooley's old ties. They ought to sell those ties.

Other people are starting to take notice: Herschel was faster than Bo, and was the fastest Heisman winner ever. 

Above: had to get my picture taken with this old school Corningware, for a future project. 

Below: the Sunday night Hallmark movie. Actually Netflix. We've watched it before. 

Warner Robins Demons 1976 national champions, led by fullback Jimmy Womack (UGA) and halfback James Brooks (Auburn & NFL). Also nose tackle Ron Simmons, who went on to FSU and pro wrestling fame.

Rivalry Saturday

This morning we packed up and headed home. Stopped by Lennie and Corrine's house, so Winnie got to play with more dogs. Then 30 min to Chick-fil-A in Lugoff / Camden because C had forgotten to eat breakfast (I had fixed me a plate of thanksgiving leftovers that I'd been munching on).

Then C had to stop in Madison for a potty break. Got home at 4 pm. On the drive I'd listened to GT@GA on the radio and C watched SC@Clemson on her phone.

Evidently Clemson receivers dropped twenty passes today against SC. 

Tigers may beat UNC next week but they'll never be elite with QB DJU, as I've said for over a year now. Or the Heels could show up and make it a ballgame.

Dawgs scored 37 straight points and beat GT for the 5th straight year, and 11 out of the last thirteen. In the last three meeting UGA has outscored Tech 134-21.

UGA is good on defense but their offense has struggled for several games. Maybe they've been holding back, trying to get the running game going. They've had major problems pushing it across the goal line. Can LSU pull off the upset?

Watched Bama pull ahead, then started the tape of GT@GA. C cooked spaghetti.

W&MC were having M and A&C over to help decorate for Christmas, kinda an annual thing. Would've been nice to see everyone since it's been a while for me. Shivonne is about to start walking.

Elf is one of the best movies. James Caan. Bob Newhart. Ed Asner.

Last night's movie (above). Tonight's movie (below). Kinda edgy for Ceil. "Turkey Drop" is the term for high school kids going off to college while nursing a long-term romance, then returning home for Thanksgiving - when someone gets dropped. I did not know that.

Black Friday

Sunday I drove C to Dekalb Farmers Market. Those trips always take longer than they should.

I ran on Monday morning, then a long day at work. M cooked sesame venison and baked a test cake. He may make Anna's wedding cake.

Early AM golf on Tuesday. Nine holes. Made several stops on the way home. Helped C clean out her closet.

Wednesday morning I walked 18 holes. Left for SC at 12:45. Bad traffic. Normally 5 hours stretched out to seven. Stopped for gas in Conyers, groceries in Augusta, and Chick-fil-A in Camden.

Spent most of Thursday cleaning out stuff, including lots of old magazines that were over ten years old. Got out all the Christmas decorations. Got to watch a little football. Before the Giants game a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader signed the national anthem. For some reason no one noticed that she didn't even know how to use sign language.

Not sure what this tweet means, but it's a phrase I'm going to have to start using.

Didn't eat much until 7:30: Rusty & Kelly brought lasagna and spaghetti. Ate with them and their kids and significant others - 9 in all. Winnie had two dogs to play with all day, so she was in heaven.

Big gathering today for the big meal: ham, turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, bacon wrapped brussells sprouts, salad, macaroni & cheese, green beans, baked vegetables, pumpkin delight, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, brown rice, wedding cookies, pecan pie, coconut cream pie.

We had 22 for the meal: me & Ceil, Rusty's five plus Ted and Lisie, and her friend Brittany from Boeing. Phil & Teresa and Beau & Vic, Dic Dac & Debbie and Chase & Grant, plus Lennie, Corrine, Momma D, and Ann. Rusty cooked the turkey. Afterward the boys flipped from Baylor@Texas to the soccer game. Joan would've been turning over in her grave if she'd known we were watching soccer instead of football on her TV.

We'll drive home tomorrow. Will probably miss a bunch of football, since GT@UGA and SC@Clemson kick off at noon.

Sunday A and C will be looking at wedding dresses. For Thanksgiving Anna went to northeast Georgia to be with Caleb's family. Big crowd. Today Anna worked in Athens.

W&MC and Shivonne celebrated in Cartersville with the Gilberts. M drove up to be with them. M had baked apple tarts to take.

Grateful

Walked 18 holes on Wednesday morning, over four miles - almost eleven thousand steps up and down the hills. Got to hit several shots from each position, including a few good ones along the way. 

1. Good straight drive off tee. Good chip. Good long one-putt.

2. Good straight tee shot just short of green. I hit another tee shot over the green.

3. Several good chip shots, and one good putt.

4. A few good chip shots. One good putt.

5. Two good tee shots: one pin high on fringe, another just short of green.

6. Two great approach shots - one to two feet from 100 yards. Shot of the month.

7. Good long drive off tee. A couple of good chips.

8. Two good long drives, one perhaps my longest ever. Three good approach shots. Was putting for birdie.

9. A decent, straight 3 wood off tee.

Of course the 18 holes included even more flubbed shots. Lost a lot of balls in the leaves and gosh knows where else. Got to the point I was losing a ball on almost every shot just because i couldn't see where it went. Hit slightly fewer shots on the second nine just because I was starting to run out of balls. Gotta re-load before my next round.

Monday night M cooked sesame venison, and baked a sample cake for us to taste.