News, 2025-11-07 On a personal note I passed the July 2025 California state bar exam. (Results came out today.) However I still need to take the Multi-State Professional Responsibility Exam (next offered in March 2026) for bar admittance.

Happy West Side Story Day to hockey fans who celebrate!

I have good news & embarrassing news. Good: I PASSED the July 2025 California state bar exam. Embarrassing: I never took the Multi-State Professional Responsibility Exam, required for bar admission & next given in March 2026. (Registration opens 2025-12-16.) Next steps are obvious enough.

Today was parent-teacher conferences for 12M & 7M. If I may say so, 17F & the boys are all a GD delight. Just like their parents, especially their mother. Being a GD delight is a double-edged sword, as those of us who were once "a pleasure to have in class" know all too well.

Endless gravel at final rest stop? (5) #CrypticCrossword (I wanted to do something with "undefeated" but couldn't make that work)

Good morning from Lafayette Reservoir!

Baseball: Juan Soto is the second player in MLB history to win a Silver Slugger Award (caveat: Silver Slugger only goes back to 1980) three years in a row for three different teams. Name the other! (It's a bit of a trick question.)

Song(s) of 2025, a verbose personal thread:

News, 2025-11-06 (part 2), lots of law today. (On a personal note I find out tomorrow whether I passed the California bar exam that I took back at the end of July.)

I hear Mamdani is gonna implement Syabira law. Every bodega will have to sell edible sculptures of DNA helices, and other baked goods with delicious Malaysian flavors.

I have Sandwich Guy's (Sean Dunn's) pink shirt & tan shorts, though I have nowhere near his physique. Next Halloween, if I remember this idea, dead simple costume that requires stopping by a sub shop before going out.

Geography lesson for myself: Start with a 2x2 grid. Rotate 30° counter-clockwise. Shrink the (former) top left; make it a bit penis-y. Add a ball at the now bottom left. I've only rarely been to NYC (& not in years). Didn't even have a mental image of borough geography til mayoral election returns

45F just went on a brisk walk near Brighton Beach, hours after her redeye landed at JFK. As an '80s music fan & dad joke enthusiast, I JUST NOW realized (with great shame) why I should have told her to stay awake the entire flight. "Foot on the pedal, never ever false metal..."

News, 2025-11-06 That election was something! Maybe people really will stand up against fascism. Maybe two years in a row many people voted based on who they thought would help them afford things. Maybe hope beats bigotry (& sex pests) in the long run. All of that. But battles are not fully won.

"Dewayne it's been wet" That's what Steve Stone would tell Dewayne Staats (instead of "fun") after the 6th of a rainy mid-80s WGN Cubs game. (Staats & Harry Caray traded radio & TV every 3 innings) Stone & Staats both still call games (now White Sox, Rays) 40yrs later It's wet in Oakland today

I (belatedly) love board game Halloween: what do you mean your couple's costume is the dice tower from Wingspan and the dice tower from Castle Panic?

Zohran Mamdani has a 6-letter first name and 7-letter surname (hat tip matt.shires on Threads) Asking large language models to find other famous people with these name lengths unfortunately leads to the Rs-in-raspberry problem. They are colossally bad at it.

My rare political equivalent of the hipster "I knew them when they were underground" is Cuomo, in that I remember hearing about (and viscerally hating) the nursing home shenanigans long before the sex pest stuff came out, while he was still being valorized because he gave good powerpoint.

Months, ranked by quality viewing of major North American sports: 1. June 2. March 3. October 4t. April, May 6. January 7. July 8. September 9. August 10. February 11. December 12. November I could comment on these but it is more fun if you do.

Bring the flavor to the fish. Bring the flavor to the rice. Who's the number one spice?

Voices: At some point an impression master (a Frank Caliendo type) is going to tell a late night host that the key to a good Zohran Mamdani is start with Patrick Mahomes and then [loosen or tighten something, I don't know, but the point is Mamdani has some of the Mahomes timbre]

People of NY repeatedly vote for Zohran Mamdani because he knows how to get stuff done. The fear mongers can stay bent, we're voting for the normal guy who does not starve kids, & does not harm kids. It's very simple.

News, 2025-11-04 If you are seeing this right after I posted it and you vote in the U.S., you may still have time to vote. Please do so!

Yesterday 7M told 45F about a song "Subway." Singer has a friend, they break up, she still sees her on subway & other places. (You reading this know that song obv) 7M loves the "she's got a way" / "she got away" wordplay and is on the lookout for (or trying to create) similar constructions.

VINTER - "Space Pump" on the radio reminds me, 12M & I have the same human (not primarily an actor), wildly different movies for "replace the cast of one movie with Muppets, keep one human." Mine is Trainspotting, keep LeBron James. 12M keeps him in Space Jam. Reboot? Try mind-bending crossover!

Love Letter! 45F 4 points 7M (pictured) 1 point 50M (that's me) 1 point

Tomorrow Youth Repertory (Alameda) presented The Merry Wives of Windsor!

An '80s playlist, under-explained: * Rick Astley - "Together Forever" * Debbie Gibson - "Only in My Dreams" Someone (who isn't me and probably wasn't born yet at the relevant time) has plugged into my lived experience of turning 12 in March 1987, 13 in '88 etc. There's the Debbie Gibson sax solo

Interrogating my GBBO rooting interests: (I'm thru Pastry Week of the latest season, so we've seen six eliminations. I think I'm one episode behind.) Start w/the obvious, we know so little about these bakers. Literally just what producers packaged. I'm glad they don't manufacture drama or villains

Kid baseball: 7M (last fall game was yesterday) had a lot of fun at the cage today. (Neptune, South Shore, Alameda) Seeing that indirectly shows me that 12M never enjoyed playing baseball. Strong work ethic, moderate skill, masked well, but in hindsight he hated it. Wish I'd admitted that sooner.

With a few hours to reflect: 1. 2016 WS Game 7 2. 2025 WS Game 7 3. 1960 WS Game 7 4. 2011 WS Game 6 At least one of these games... * 1975 Games 6 & 7 * 1986 Games 6 & 7 * 1991, 1997, & 2001 Game 7 ...falls out of (or already wasn't) in the top 10.

GBBO Pastry Week (yes, still several days behind) For awhile during show stopper I had no idea for either SB or eliminated. SB made me very happy. Elimination (given the two it was between) would have made me sad either way. The 6 remaining include 3 I really like, 2 I'm fine with, and 1

The Orion Kerkering throw home was only 23 days ago yet some of the batshit craziest baseball has come since then. Four winner take all games (Brewers-Cubs is the one you forgot about), the 18 innings, the Yamamotos & Yesavages. I hate this F game so F much and will continue to however long I live

National indoor stadium stoic, missing ring ( 8) #crypticcrossword

I hate Canadian baseball Halloween. What do you mean you're going as Daulton Varsho catching a fly ball after he fell down?

I hate Canadian baseball Halloween. What do you mean you're going as the time (regular season a few months ago) Alejandro Kirk hit a game-ending ground out to right field?

Daulton Varsho & generational bonds: Before leaving for an errand I showed 17F video of Varsho's catch months ago (after he fell down). When I got back 17F showed me Varsho's bases loaded diving catch on her phone

Web site UI oopsie of the day: Poké House - Alameda ordering interface has yes/no to krab salad as a required element. But when they ran out of krab salad, instead of forcing a no answer they inadvertently made the question impossible to answer & thus web orders impossible. So I ordered in person

Jfc whoever is in the KNBR control room "pause 10 seconds for station identification" doesn't mean 10 seconds of dead air and then play the ID several seconds later

Ball don't lie

Baseball: the 2014 SF Giants were the first road team to win the World Series by winning Game 7. There were four WS G7s from 2014-19, all won by the road team, and no G7 since then until tonight. Meanwhile I'd completely forgotten who started that G7 for SF (obviously not Bumgarner; he finished it)

The pre-show (TYR Shakespeare) is all 1987 * Madonna - "Open Your Heart" * Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam - "Head to Toe" * Wang Chung - "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" If the Dead Or Alive song were "Brand New Lover" instead of "Right Round" then we'd be 1987 exclusive, unless I'm mistaken?

Tomorrow Youth Repertory presents Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor," on Alameda Point Collaborative Farm, with (among others) 17F as Mistress Page and 12M as the Host of the Garter. Same cast tomorrow 3pm Pacific. Other cast earlier today & noon tomorrow.

Speedy Turtles 16, Ghost Peppers 6 _____ Bruce made his Little League pitching debut in the final inning of the season and quickly got two balls in play (both grounded to short; one became an out) before walking his last 4 hitters. Home team finished 2-7-2, plenty to learn but plenty of fun

As a Christian, I think it's weird and inappropriate to publicly hope your spouse converts to Christianity. That's a private conversation for home. It also brings attention to the fact that your spouse's most immediate example of Christianity is you and it doesn't take. Yikes.

News, 2025-10-31 1. The Miami Herald is reporting that the U.S. will attack military targets within Venezuela. That is strictly less bad than murdering 40+ fisherman but it's certainly neither good nor consistent with what our president campaigned on.

World Series Game 6: In real time I was so certain Addison Barger (baserunner doubled off on a line drive) was safe at second, but replays clearly show he was not. A cautionary tale about wishful sensory perception, worth remembering next time one sees a "bad call" in a game involving their kids.

I love Phineas & Ferb Halloween. What do you mean your couple's costume is busting-obsessed Candace & Jeremy-smitten Candace? (from "Split Personality," season 2) Digression: why is the former the POV Candace? Just because she was in busting mode when Buford accidentally fired the machine at her?

I love baseball Halloween. What do you mean you're going as this strike zone?

Yes! "Can we name our twins Seranthony and Teoscar?" "Only if they're twins" But that's a yes (Jokes aside we aren't having any more kids)