It's Not the Distance, It's the Experience, Right?

 

March 15, 2024

 

I was looking up river cruises, both foreign and domestic. I read a Ngaio Marsh mystery set on a river cruise, and it seemed very appealing. My mom and my sister took a riverboat from Hannibal, MO to somewhere several years ago, and I always envied them. I thought I’d go on one myself. It sounded short, sweet, and fun.

 

Here are some things I found: I can go from Prague to Paris in 12 days; or from Memphis to Nashville in 8 days. These leisurely voyages offer lots stops and lots of amenities, which is nice, since a 15-hour train trip takes 12 days, and a 3-hour car trip takes 8 days. I can feel the luxury and the slow pace swamping me with a sense of relaxation and well-being right now.

 

What I can’t do is make myself pay for them. Prague to Paris: $3,500. Memphis to Nashville: $4,000.

 

Here’s the kicker: I can pay $6,000 and travel around the Great Lakes (or some of them). For $13,000 I can get all the way to Antarctica. (OK, that includes getting to Buenos Aires by air.) For $13,000, I can also get from St. Paul to New Orleans.

 

Something just seems so wrong.

 

 

 

On Baseball and Opera

 

April 30, 2024

 

As a reward for doing a stellar job at something or other, my department is going to a baseball game.

 

That’s right—a baseball game.

 

It’s a fine sport, but when people say “baseball”, I get the same look that other people get when they hear “opera”—a glazed, yet hunted look, as if to say, “Don’t make me go there!”

 

So, they’re all excited and I’m thinking, “If you’re trying to reward me, get me opera tickets!” That made me start thinking about other ways baseball and opera are similar. I really only came up with one:

 

You can take a brief nap at either one and barely miss anything.

 

But opera has better outfits.

 

I thought maybe somebody should write an opera about baseball. I looked online to see if there already was one, and found “The Summer King”, an opera about Josh Gibson, “the Black Babe Ruth.”

 

There’s also Opera Orlando’s “Baseball: A Musical Love Letter”.

 

Who knew?

 

June 2, 2024: 

Speaking of Josh Gibson, MLB said on May 25th that it has incorporated records for more than 2,300 Negro League players. Josh Gibson topped Ty Cobb in Career Batting Average, and Babe Ruth in Career Slugging Percentage. He was also tops in Season records of those categories.