Limerick Friday #653: Another Year, Another National-Stage Humiliation -- Day 2,354

When State rains, it's pourin'

The signs we all kept ignorin'

Creativity and preparation we lack

Such is the life of the Pack

Especially under Snorin' Doeren

TCU fell apart at the seams

Fulfilling the N&O's Belicheat dreams

Michael Lombardi's office cleared?

Steve Belicheat has disappeared?

Ignore all that while the media creams

A party of ignorant bitches

Full of ass-kissing pitches

To an 80-year-old senile predator

Who shits his pants on the regular

This is the cult of bigotry and temporary riches

$180 million in dead cap money

The outlook ain't sunny

The 'Fins can barely field a squad

And the talent? Good god

If it wasn't so sad, it would be kinda funny

A fraud at quarterback

Missing a rushing attack

Receivers just can't get open

And instead of tacklin', we're hopin'

Meet this year's Wolfpack

Last time ...

Day 2,352, Quasi-Quarantine: Sprawling "Atonement" Documents Complicated Love Story Amid Backdrop Of False Accusations And World War II

“The problem these fifty-nine years has been this: how can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God?”

Initially set in pastoral England in the 1930s, "Atonement" does a stellar job of blending timelines and backdrops. The action moves to France in World War II and eventually to 1999 London as the characters embrace challenges, emotions, and obstacles.

McEwan is a master at navigating an unreliable narrator and documenting the horrors of war, elegantly interspersing poignant interpersonal moments along the way. He places a stolen moment in the midst of generational and global conflict, studying its ripple effects and ramifications over decades.

“As long as he did not think of the edge, he would not go near it, and would not be tempted. He forced himself to remember the dullest things he knew–bootblack, an application form, a wet towel on his bedroom floor.”

“ … Beauty she had discovered, occupied a narrow band. Ugliness, on the other hand, had infinite variation.”

The author deftly moves between the timelines, avoiding a number of opportunities that could have disrupted the narrative.

If the introduction of the C-word jars the reader to attention early on, the book really finds its stride in part two, as we're thrust into the middle of a war, replete with heartbreaking and horrific scenes. The final section, "London 1999," beautifully completes the tale.

“His business was to survive, though he had forgotten why.”

The result is a 21st-century epic, as "Atonement" thrives in the complexities of human nature and finds hope in the bleakest circumstances.

“‘Do you love me?’

“She hesitated. ‘Yes.’ No other reply was possible. Besides, for that moment, she did. He was a lovely boy who was a long way from his family and he was about to die.”

Day 2,350, Quasi-Quarantine: Shuttle Puzzle Division Of Labor Leaves Me Adrift In Outer Space

 

The 500-piece History of Space Travel puzzle featured space suits, launch vehicles, space craft, and even the space station -- representing every space suit and vessel launched into space since 1961.

While I dug this puzzle in concept, it was another experience where my partner did entirely too much of the work. Another bummer was that it was missing a piece, which bothered the completionist in me.

6.8 out of 10, would build by myself again

Day 2,345, Quasi-Quarantine: The Snipers Were Out In Full Force Along The Scooters' Draft Freeway

 

So we've all had that fantasy football experience where it feels like the person picking before you in the draft takes the player you were targeting seemingly every time during the course of the selection process. Most of the time, you look back and realize that it happened way less than it felt like.

And other times, you look back and realize you weren't exaggerating at all and it happened around a dozen times. 

Yeah, so that was this year for me.

I got sniped so many times in this draft that I was literally angry for no reason I was able to coherently articulate. ESPN sending its unasked-for draft grade moments after the conclusion didn't help -- especially since ESPN doesn't understand how superflex drafts work (arguably, neither do I).

There were eight instances where the player I wanted as picked directly or two picks before my spot that were particularly damaging to my overall efforts:

• Ja'Marr Chase (1st round)
• Derrick Henry (3rd)
• David Montgomery (6th)
• Kenneth Gainwell and J.K. Dobbins (ninth)
• Jordan Mason (11th)
• Chris Godwin (13th)
• Alvin Kamara (14th)

What really got me steaming was the back-to-back of Godwin and Kamara, as Godwin was someone who fell that I was excited about and I had a plan to immediately stash Kamara on IR and fill his roster spot directly following the draft.

Other examples that didn't upset me quite as much:

• Amon-Ra St. Brown (2nd)
• Nico Collins (4th)
• Emeka Egbuka (5th)
• Woody Marks (12th)
• Keaton Mitchell (15th)

I feel like I pivoted really well after my strategy got torpedoed early on, but the draft-day results followed on the heels of a highly frustrating season that saw me win the winner's consolation ladder, end up in fifth place, and wrap up the season 10-7 after back-to-back wins over my least-favorite owner.

I really liked my roster in the final weeks of the season and finished on a heater, but the combo of injuries and shite luck -- I allowed the second-most fantasy points in the league -- proved too much to overcome.

Now I'm left to hope that a testing draft isn't an omen that the upcoming season will go down a similar path as last year's.

Go Scooters.

Day 2,344, Quasi-Quarantine: Silicon Valley Vet Shares How To Navigate Aggressive Tech Landscape In "Build"

“The ultimate job of marketing is to find the very best way to tell the true story of your product.”

A comprehensive look at the confluence of ideas, people, and corporate politics, "Build" does a nice job of using concrete examples. Tony Fadell includes useful diagrams and anecdotes, never shying away from hard truths (a chapter on assholes is particularly insightful).

“As a manager, you should be focused on making sure the team is producing the best possible product. The outcome is your business. How the team reaches that outcome is the team’s business.”

Some of the concepts feel a little dated and tend to lose sight of work-life balance at times as he documents starting, building, and losing companies. Fadell also tends to focus on more, more, more, making portions of the book feel pretty finance bro-coded.

“To do great things, to really learn, you can’t shout suggestions from the rooftop then move on while someone else does the work. You have to get your hands dirty. You have to care about every step, lovingly craft every detail. You have to be there when it falls apart so you can put it back together.

“You have to actually do the job. You have to love the job.”

Overall, however, this is a fascinating and instructive read. At a seminal moment for the technology industry, "Build" serves best as a catalog of the questions we should be asking ourselves, one another, and our customers.

“What you're building never matters as much as who you’re building it with.”

Limerick Friday #652: A Confusing And Stuttering Draft Marks The Return Of Fantasy Football -- Day 2,340

My QBs are the best

At tight end I'm blessed

My receivers are deep

Running backs make me weep

But I can figure out the rest

On rock bottom they alit

Before they remembered how to hit

After a trade-deadline purge

The Mets started to surge

Now they're winning for a bit

"Silo" is in its third season

Still addictive beyond reason

But juggling timelines

And different lifetimes

Has the pace kinda wheezin'

After years of dooming

Another long season looming

Thanks to decades of fail

We're in dead-cap jail

Better times ahead, I'm assuming

A bizarre fantasy draft

My roster got the shaft

Like six times I got sniped

Cursingly, I griped

But at the end I shrugged and laughed

Last time ...

Day 2,337, Quasi-Quarantine: Wet Leg Rocks KEXP In Their Very Distinctive Way

Wet Leg was probably my band of the year for 2025 after following up their self-titled debut in 2022 with "Moisturizer."

Led by pyrotechnic lead singer Rhian Teasdale, this band has a unique sound, a piquant presence, and a scintillating catalog of bangers. Be sure to check them out if you haven't yet.