A Whole New World

In Latin class today we learned that a term for the world was orbis terrarum.  Why is that significant?  Orbis means "circle."  Why is that significant?  It proves if people knew Latin we would all be a lot smarter, or could at least avoid a common historical myth!

The myth goes: nobody believed Christopher Columbus that he could sail west to Asia because they all thought the world was flat.  He was the lone person who thought the world was round.  Ancient people are so dumb!

WRONG!  All educated people since at least Aristotle knew the world was round.  Chinese and Indians discovered this on their own around the same time.  They did some advanced math to discover this.  They simply thought the ocean between Europe and Asia was too big to sail.

The big disagreement for Columbus was the size of the earth.  I don't have the exact numbers in front of me since I'm writing this off the top of my head, but his (mis)translation of an Arabic text put the world at some thousands of miles smaller than everyone else thought (everyone else was pretty darn close).  He tried to convince the English, French, Spanish, Portuguese of this "fact" but they were all smarter than him.  The reason why Spain, more accurately Queen Isabella, funded his journey was, well, why not?  All it cost was 3 ships, the potential payoff was huge!  The classic low cost, high upside deal.

In the end, Columbus basically lucked out that he ran into the Americas (yes Europeans had known about some land to the west, but that's another issue).  If not for the Americas, he and his crew would have died well before they reached Asia.

How did the myth that everyone thought the world was flat come about?  I don't have a good answer to that, but I could easily go with "historians in the late 18th and early 19th centuries weren't very good about checking facts."  That, and, "let's make sure the ancients look dumb."  What I didn't realize before was, if people knew Latin, this myth may not have started in the first place.  After all, why would the Romans call a flat earth "circular earth"?  The lesson, as always, is learn your Latin!

Favorite Travel Destinations

This is about the time of year I begin to think about traveling.  Maybe it's because about 5 years ago I was on my way to Europe?  Whatever the reason, here's my list of my favorite (and least favorite) destinations (not including where I've lived a.k.a. Houston, Boston, Auburn, Grand Rapids).

1. Florence

            All other cities are in a race for second, and it's not even close.  Perfectly beautiful, full of art and history, amazing churches, great landscape, and the best food.

2. Paris

            My first step in Europe, and I can say at the time I was not looking forward to it.  Instead I was amazed at the many great things to see and do.  And the people were much nicer than I expected.  It helped that I stayed dirt cheap in a nice apartment in the heart of town next to the best market in town.  So nice I could walk just about anywhere I wanted to.

3. Gettysburg/Antietam/Civil War battlefields

            I love the connection of nature and history. 

4. Washington, DC

            A city I like so much I've returned 4 times.  Nearly everything is free, which just makes it better.

5.  Rome

            I probably would have appreciated it more if I had more time and/or I had not gone to it after Florence.  It's a little too hectic for me, but the amount of history and religion is breathtaking.

6. Colorado Springs

            The most memorable of the family vacations when I was young.  The Garden of the Gods was especially great.

7.  Old Quebec City

            A beautiful old city, it looks very European.  Part of a larger tour of eastern Canada.

8. San Diego

            Definitely my favorite part of California.  Expensive, but nearly perfect weather.  Both parts of the zoo are great, though again expensive.

9.  Kennedy Space Center

            The area is ugly, but you can't beat a shuttle launch.

10. Milwaukee

            A perfectly sized city with about everything you need.  Beautiful location on Lake Michigan.

Places I would be okay with never seeing again, in no particular order:

Los Angeles (hate hate hate the traffic, and incredibly dirty)

El Paso

Oakland

Venice (what a disappointment)

San Francisco (obviously I don't like California)

Wake Up Houston!

Hello Astros fans, wherever you are.  Judging from the stands this weekend, it's not Minute Maid Park.  (I'm sorry if that sounds too much like Bob Uecker in Major League, it just always comes to mind.)  This is the plight of being a baseball fan in football territory.

At one point on Saturday I thought I was going to write about witnessing in person the final nail in the coffin.  The A's went up 6-3, and I had texted to my mom "game over, season over."  It was bleak.  But then the bats came alive.  A pinch-hit RBI double by Matt Duffy, his first major league hit.  Gattis' go-ahead 3-run home run in the 7th.  Max Stassi's first major league home run in the 8th.  The Astros breathed new life into their season, or at least kept hopes alive for another day, and all I could think was, too bad no one was there to see it.

Am I the only one around here who does not understand why weekend games in the last month of a playoff push are not sold out?  And not only sold out, but the bottom bowl was at least 1/3 empty and the top at least 1/2.  And this on a bobble head give away day?  I don't care if it's NCAA or NFL game day.  These Astros' games are much more important, especially since we haven't been this close to the playoffs in a decade.

Where are the people?  Official attendance on Friday was 27,567; on Saturday 27,044; and on Sunday 22,453.  Minute Maid holds 41,500 people.  Those numbers are pathetic.  I remember making fun of the Braves in the 90s for not selling out playoff and World Series games.  The Astros would probably do the same this year, and you cannot blame playoff fatigue for sure.

I know a lot of people will blame ticket prices.  To a certain extent I will agree, especially given the cheapest face value this weekend was over $20, and next weekend with the Rangers is over $24.  But keep in mind, football tickets start at around $60 or $80.  People, for some reason, are more than willing to fork out those prices for seats where you can't even see the field, for a sport better witnessed on TV than in person.  Baseball, on the other hand, is always better in person.  Stadiums in other areas of the country are even more expensive, but they sell out.  When at Royals games this summer, some had tickets starting at $80, and those were sold out.  You cannot tell me Royals fans are that much more wealthy than Astros fans.  Are you going to blame them on being on TV?  Well that was 2 years ago now.  Fans have been able to watch the most exciting team in baseball on TV for 2 years, so stop using that excuse.

To me it all comes down to one thing, Houstonians are fair-weather fans.  Yes, they came out in the late 90s and early 00s when the Astros were winning, but again they were winning.  As soon as the team turned south nobody showed up.  Houston has never been at the top of attendance records in baseball, even when they were winning.  The all-time attendance record for the Astros, just over 3 million in 2004, makes them 19th out of 30 teams.  In 1998, arguably the best season in Astros history, they drew less than 2.5 million, which was 15th in the league.  Even in 1986, the heyday of the Astros, they were 14th in the league.

So what am I trying to say?  I hate being a baseball fan in football country.  I try to talk about the best sport in the world, and people laugh and just want to talk about a game where the majority of the time is commercials or being standing around.  An Australian football sports writer last week watched Monday Night Football and said the same thing.  I don't want this to become another football-bashing report, just saying.  I really wish more Houstonians would jump on the bandwagon and support this young and exciting team.  Otherwise the team in the 4th largest city in America will continue to be a small market team.

The Greatest Movie Trilogies

As mentioned before, I love movies and lists.  Here's another one.  Listed worst to best.  Note: does not include "trilogies" with a fourth movie (i.e. Indiana Jones)

The Matrix

            An iconic science fiction movie is destroyed by two terribly scattered and overdone sequels.

            Best: The Matrix

            Worst: The Matrix Revolutions

Alex Cross

            Two good detective movies with Morgan Freeman followed by a wreck of  movie with Tyler Perry.  Does that surprise anyone?

            Best: Kiss the Girls

            Worst: Alex Cross

The Hobbit

            Should have been at most two movies, instead they are unnecessarily stretched into a trilogy that are essentially boring scenes of walking intermixed with overly long action pieces.

            Best: An Unexpected Journey

            Worst: Desolation of Smaug

Madagascar

            A good first movie followed by two lackluster sequels that rely too much on the penguins, who get old very quickly.

            Best: Madagascar

            Worst: Europe's Most Wanted

The Chronicles of Narnia

            Again, a solid opening movie and two lackluster sequels.  Prince Caspain adds an unnecessary love story and Voyage of the Dawn Treader looks like a made-for-TV movie.

            Best: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

            Worst: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Ocean's Trilogy

            A great heist movie followed by a mess and an afterthought.

            Best: Ocean's Eleven

            Worst: Ocean's Twelve

Star Wars Prequels

            Of course they pale in comparison to the originals, but they are still fun and have some spectacular action pieces.

            Best: Revenge of the Sith

            Worst: Phantom Menace

Spider-Man

            The cast never quite felt right, and the final movie is one of the worst in history.

            Best: Spider-Man 2

            Worst: Spider-Man 3

Austin Powers

            Funny, but definitely dated.  Even better if you're a Bond fan, which means since I saw these long before the Bond movies it probably damaged them more for me.

            Best: Austin Powers

            Worst: Goldmember

Iron Man

            The first is one of the best superhero movies, the others are significantly weaker.

            Best: Iron Man

            Worst: Iron Man 2

Predator

            My favorite movie alien by far, so the second movie gets a bit of a pass for me.

            Best: Predator

            Worst: Predator 2

Blade

            The series that actually began the Marvel movement, though many people forget that for some reason.

            Best: Blade

            Worst: Blade Trinity

Men In Black

            These movies are quite fun, so they do basically what they need to do.

            Best: Men In Black

            Worst: Men In Black II

The Dark Knight Trilogy

            As a huge Batman fan, I am very opinionated about these movies.  They get worse with each viewing as you realize how little Batman is actually in them and how far away from the source material they are.

            Best: The Dark Knight

            Worst: The Dark Knight Rises

The Man with No Name

            Solid westerns all around.

            Best: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

            Worst: For a Few Dollars More

Back to the Future

            We're getting into the best of the best, with no less than great movies.  These are great mixtures of drama, romance, comedy, and science fiction.  Just plain fun.

            Best: Back to the Future

            Worst: Back to the Future Part II

The Bourne Trilogy

            These movies are so go they forced the Bond movies to complete change tempo.  Yes, too much shaky cam, but the awesome car chases more than make up for that.

            Best: Bourne Supremacy

            Worst: Bourne Ultimatum

The Lord of the Rings

            These movies are so well made people don't care about the length.  They single-handedly made fantasy cool.  My only complaint was the added scenes and characters (especially with Two Towers) when they left out others.

            Best: Fellowship of the Ring

            Worst: Two Towers

Toy Story

            The final two was actually a very difficult choice.  The Toy Story movies are nearly flawless, and they completed changed the landscape of animated movies.

            Best: Toy Story 3

            Worst: None.  Toy Story?

Star Wars

            The most influential movies in history, not only due to the number of movie people they inspired but also things like marketing, toys, expanded universes, etc.  The prequels do not tarnish them at all.

            Best: Empire Strikes Back

            Worst: HA!

The Power of Prayer, or Another Johnson Family Health Scare

The Johnson family had another health scare this week.  This is to add to everything going on with Chris and dad's recent cataract surgeries.  Wednesday morning, while my mom and dad were praying together dad realized he was slurring his speech.  He immediately called the doctor to check up on this.  That in itself is a big step, since until even recently I suspect he would have said no big deal and kept right on going.

The doctor ordered an MRI.  My dad has always been dealing with pain in his left calf.  The doctor said it could have been a minor stroke, or the pain could be from his sciatica, which has given him a lot of problems.  They were told to go home and the doctor would get back to them when he finds out more.

On the drive back to the house, my dad got a call: "you had a stroke, go to the ER right now."  So, they went to Methodist Willowbrook, right near the house.  They told the nurse there what had happened and were told to wait.  Normal stroke protocol is to be seen within an hour.  Two hours later, they were still waiting.  Long story short, turns out there was some bad communication (the nurse said that they said they needed an MRI, not that dad had already had one, and there was little to no communications between the doctors who knew what was going on and that he needed to be seen and the ER staff).  Eventually he got into a room around 4:00 pm, but then basically nothing until 10:00 the next morning.

That's when the fun began.  A battery of tests to see what's going on.  Confirmation that it was a stroke (though the nurse said it was "old," probably to cover her butt).  Patient advocates coming to apologize and basically begging to not be sued.  At one point my dad was put on an IV to lower his blood pressure and he started to become flushed and had labored breathing, quite scary to say the least.

I went by to see them in the afternoon.  By that time he looked and felt a lot better.  They basically just had to wait for test results the next morning.  The most noticeable difference was he had a slight dip to the left hand side of his mouth. 

Test results all basically came back fine.  It was called a "silent stroke" because there are no manifestations of disability, which was the best news.  They also found he does have a bulging disk, hence the problem with his leg, but that's much better than the alternative.

In the end, the family is grateful for all the support and prayers sent dad's way during these couple of days.  Understandably it was a very emotional time.  For my dad it was mostly the thought of leaving mom alone.  Thank God he it was not more severe.

There is an interesting anecdote from this episode.  My parents were rightly upset about the mistreatment from the hospital.  Instead of blowing up about it, they prayed.  The First Letter of John to be precise.  This gave them a peace about the situation and allowed them to immediately forgive those involved.  The power of prayer in action.  That's not to say they will forget and will certainly not return to the "leading stroke hospital."  I think you can find a correlation to the reconciliation of sins here.  God forgives the penitent, heals the wound, but the scar remains.  All I know is I am thanking God that dad is ok.

Epitaph to a Surprise Team, or Why do the Astros have to turn into the Cubs?

I know that for a lot of reasons, I should just be happy that the Astros are still in the playoff hunt.  They are coming off four consecutive years with at least 90 losses.  Last year they won 70, which was a 19 game improvement over 2013, the worst season in franchise history.  They haven't had a winning season since 2008. 

At the beginning of the year, I had predicted they would win 85.  Most people thought I was crazy, since that would be a 15 game improvement.  But watching them every day last year, I saw a team with excellent starting pitching and some good young bats with Jose Altuve and George Springer.  Their biggest hole last year was the bullpen, perhaps the worst in baseball, and they addressed that need with Luke Gregerson and Pat Neshek. 

They had also added Jed Lowrie and Evan Gattis.

  Even with a return to form from Chris Carter (i.e. middling power and tons of strikeouts), I still figured they had a good enough offense to compliment a great pitching staff for a winning record.

Then, they started winning.  They went 15-7 in April.  From April 24 to May 3 they won 10 in a row to jump out to a 7 game lead.  All of a sudden, I started getting my hopes up.  Even after a 7 games losing streak in June, they still held on to the division lead, and followed it up shortly with a 5 game winning streak (during which they only increased their lead 1.5 games).  The Angels looked vulnerable, and the Rangers had no pitching and tons of injuries.  I started to believe they had the division in the bag.

Then, going into the All Star Break they lost six in a row and 8 out of 9.  They lost the division lead for the first time since April 19.  They ended up going only 12-12 in July.  The pitching was holding on, but the bats went cold even with the addition of (Rookie of the Year) Carlos Correa. 

They needed to do something at the trade deadline.

I liked the Scott Kazmir trade.

  He's a veteran from the Houston area, and they really did not trade much for him (I hope that statement is still correct in 10 years).  I figured all they need was a first baseman, since Carter is terrible, Jon Singleton cannot hit above AAA, and Luis Valbuena is not a long term answer.  I wanted Joey Votto.  Badly.  Instead, they got Carlos Gomez, another centerfielder who wasn't hitting, and Mike Fiers, a capable veteran for the rotation.  They gave up a lot for them.  I was not happy.

Since the trade deadline, the Astros are 18-20 (and about to lose again).  I said at the beginning of September, get ready for a September swoon.  Unfortunately, I think I am right.  Their lead, after today, will be down to a half game.  The pitching is still good, but the bats are dead.  Votto, to make matters worse, is hitting .385/.566/.692 with 12 home runs in the second half of the season. 

They are coming up on a 4-game set in Texas.  I am fully prepared for the Astros to be down 3.5 after that series.  I am beginning to prepare myself for the Astros to miss the postseason.

Before the season, I would have been thrilled for the Astros to be in the playoff hunt.  After leading the division for the majority of the season, my heart is starting to break.  You get your hopes up, and they turn into the Cubs. 

At least the team is young, and should be fighting for the playoffs for years to come.  As they say: there's always next year.

Of course, as I was writing this the Astros come back for 5 runs with two outs in the 9th.  Hopefully they will hold on to this lead.

To My Mom, On Her Birthday

While much of the country-rightly-mourns today for those who died on 9-11-2001, this date will always be one of mixed emotions for me.  I can never forget that fateful day, but I also cannot forget the birth of the most important woman in my life, my mom.  Today is especially memorable as it is her 70th birthday.  That is a little difficult for my to comprehend, since in my mind she will always be in her 40s.  Here is a little reflection on what she means to me.

My mom gave me life.  I know that might sound obvious, but there is more to it.  I am, of course, eternally grateful for her giving birth to me, an act I can never repay.  What most people do not know is that if my mom had been any less of a woman, I might not be here.  The first doctor she went to said that she was too old to have a baby and to abort the pregnancy.  My mom was aghast and angry.  My dad was too, and I am sure said some things to make the doctor know how he felt.  Somehow they had found the doctor in the church bulletin, so of course they told the pastor and immediately the advertisement was taken out.  Of course my mom would never have thought of ending my life, but that she made such a stand has always impressed upon me the importance of ending the scourge of abortion.  In more ways than one, she gave me life.

My mom is the reason why I am where I am.  My dad has been a great encouragement, and has embraced the Catholic faith, but ultimately my faith comes from my mom.  Again, few people know that my mom was in the convent.  At the time she thought it would be what would bring her closest to God.  Thankfully, at least for the sake of myself and brothers and sister, she discerned a calling to the married life.  I have a sneaking suspicion that part of that discernment was a promise to pray for a child who would serve at the altar of God.  I know from a young age my mom prayed for me.  It took 30 years, but those prayers paid off.  In many ways, she is my St. Monica.

My mom is a completely selfless giver.  I have never been of want for anything thanks to my parents.  They have always put us first.  My mom quit her job to become a full-time homemaker, the most difficult job anyone can have, as soon as she had her first boy.  Ever since then, she has always been there for us.  I knew growing up that I was one of the luckiest children at school because I knew my mom would be there for me if I needed her in any way.

My mom is my teacher.  From the beginning she pushed me to be the best I could be.  Always challenging me but at the same time supporting me.  Thanks to her, I had a huge head start being one of the few children in kindergarten who could already read.  It has been that way ever since.  Even today, with my dad she is my primary editor, the first person I go to when I need help.  She is even the reason why I love baseball and dinosaurs so much.

My mom makes it easy for me to love Mary, Our Mother.  The love she has for her children echoes that of Our Mother.  The total self-giving the same.  In so many ways, when I look at one, I see the other.  That is why it is so fitting for me that their birthdays are only three days apart.

I could go on, but words escape me.  Needless to say I am the luckiest son.  I love you, Mom.