I’ve been giving this some thought:  There is an “open mic night” at the church every week.  And though it’s aimed more for the younger crowd, I’ve been thinking of taking the stage and practicing my live performance capabilities.  Performers are only allowed three or four songs per set, so what songs would I play?

These are the songs I’ve been playing and practicing.  Some are new (to me) and others I’ve been playing for years (but have gotten of practice):

• Daydream (Lovin’ Spoonful)
• Presence of the Lord (Clapton)
• Dino’s Song (Quicksilver Messenger Service)
• Pride of Man (Quicksilver Messenger Service)

As backup songs, I might also consider:

• Thinking of You (Loggins & Messina)
• My Sweet Lord (George Harrison)
• Melissa (Allman Brothers)
• Little Wing (Hendrix)

The latter four are more complex, and would require more practice before I feel comfortable playing them in public.  Heck, I would have to practice all of them before playing publicly.  But no dream is to great, eh?

The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Daydream”

Eric Clapton “Presence of the Lord”

Quicksilver Messenger Service: “Dino’s Song” and “Pride of Man”

(Kenny) Loggins & (Jim) Messina

George Harrison – All Things Must Pass solo LP

Allman Brothers Band – Eat a Peach (Melissa)

Jimi Hendrix Experience – Axis: Bold As Love (Little Wing)

In an earlier post I wrote that I would never again have an Android device.  That was a bit premature it turns out, as in a fit of (temporary, I hope) madness I thought to myself, “Maybe it was the older version of Android that was the problem, and that Google had improved it.”  The Google Nexus 7 I had literally thrown against the wall in a fit of pique was incapable of running newer versions of the Android OS.

I came across a cheap Chinese “phablet” on Amazon running Android 7.0 (nougat) and so I bought it.  Made by an unfamiliar company called Irulu, it was the same size and form factor as the Nexus 7.  It was named the eXpro (no, it’s not your browser, the site’s page appears to be completely munged).

Not a phone, eXpro is capable of accepting a SIM card and becoming one. I pity anyone who does so, though.

For starters, the eXpro is very bad at holding wi-fi connections.  Sometimes a reboot is necessary when traveling from one physical location to another.

But the worst part is Android.

On my Nexus 7, which I completely scrubbed and factory reset, apps have an annoying habit of just quitting in mid-use.  Annoying, for sure.

On the Irulu, there is a piece of malware that defies removal. It is called QuickTouch and is installed as “system software,” which means the typical anti-virus/crap cleaners fail to remove it; some even fail to recognize it as the intrusive infection it is.  Searching Google results in only user complaints about it, with the solution being – wait for it – a factory reset.

There is a QuickTouch on the Google Play store that gets high marks.  I can’t tell if it’s the same program or not, but the version on my eXpro installs software without my asking, shows notifications for programs I don’t want, and now having disabled (since I can’t remove) every one of its features I can, starts throwing messages about programs not responding that I never activated.

I could go on, but I won’t.  If QuickTouch is pre-installed by Google/Android and can’t be removed, then shame on Google for including such a piece of noxious trash in their OS.  It’s bad enough that apps spy on us every minute of our lives, but when they take over our devices, I draw the line.

(I still harbor the dark feeling of satisfaction I might derive by destroying these devices by shattering them with a few well-placed shots from a .45 caliber weapon).

Two days after my previous post, the owners of the Washington Nationals all but admitted the 2018 season is lost.  They did so by trading away two of their more prolific players, Daniel Murphy and Matt Adams.

It’s weird how things work.  There is this thing called “revocable waivers,” which means a player placed on this list can be obtained by another team, but the owning team has three options:

1. Work out a trade deal with the claiming team.
2. Pull the player back off waivers (thereby revoking it).
3. Do nothing, and let the player negotiate a contract with the claiming team.

In this case, they let Murphy and Adams go by negotiating with the claiming teams. The Chicago Cubs took Murphy in exchange for cash and a minor league player, and the St. Louis Cardinals took Adams for “cash considerations.”

Pulling a layer back off the baseball “onion,” this is all business. Both Murphy and Adams would have been free agents after the end of the season.  This frees up money the Nationals can use for next year.

It also signals surrender.  The Nationals have now given up hope of a 2018 postseason, and are looking toward next year.

My apologies, but I’m in somewhat of an “I told you so” mood, and since this is my place to spout and spew, I’m gonna do just that.  And what do I want to spout and spew about?  The Washington Nationals baseball team.

Washington Nationals “Curly W” Logo

I’ve been a baseball fan since I was a kid. I remember sitting out on our screened-in porch, in the dark, with my dad, listening to Washington Senators games on a transistor radio. Every so often we’d go to a game at Griffith Stadium, where I’d watch Harmon Killebrew, Frank Howard, Gil Hodges, Camilo Pascual, Eddie Brinkman, and others. I still remember the saying, “Washington: First in war, first in peace, last in the American League!”

Washington, D.C. lost the Senators not once, but twice. The current Texas Rangers and Minnesota Twins began their existence in Washington. For years, D.C. had no professional (or even minor league) baseball, and many locals adopted the nearby Baltimore Orioles. Not I, however. I want baseball that’s a “home team.”

In 2005, the Lerner family, wealthy from their real estate works, brought the Montreal Expos to D.C. It was a rocky start, and for the first few years, it wasn’t certain if this was going to be a D.C. team or a transplanted Canadian team. Some people latched on quickly, and when the Nationals drafted University of Virginia’s Ryan Zimmerman, things began to look up.

This isn’t supposed to be a history lesson. The above is simply background. The recent history is that the Nationals developed into one of the game’s top teams. They won their division (NL East) twice. And lost the league title twice by one run in game five. They were on the brink.

So, now this is a eulogy. There are 37 games left to play in the 2018 regular season. The Nats are 62-63, and have been hovering around the .500 mark since about July 3, when they hit 42-42.

Statistically, they could still make the playoffs.  Yeah, and there’s a statistical chance that I could be elected Pope.

Today (August 19, 2018) the Nationals got drubbed by the last place Miami Marlins, 12-1. This, on the heels of a tenth inning loss to the same Marlins the night before.  To say the Nationals are foundering is to say the Titanic has sprung a leak.

Prior to the season opener, many in the media were crowning the Nats the obvious World Series Champs (Sports Illustrated cover jinx, anyone?).  These same prognosticating experts should be eating their words.  They won’t, of course.

Technically, I think part of the problem is that opposing teams got better in the off-season and the Nationals didn’t keep pace.  There was a pleasant surprise in the activation of rookie Juan Soto, but he’s been the bright spot in a year otherwise marked by injury and less-than-stellar play.

That a team which can boast as much talent as the Nationals can be a mediocre .500 speaks volumes about sports, human nature and relying on predictions.