Friday's Feast! (one day late!)...

Appetizer
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you like your job?

8

Soup
When was the last time you think you were lied to?

Probably sometime while I was working the help desk at work this week!

Salad
Share some lyrics from one of your favorite songs.

Born, by Over the Rhine

I was born to laugh
I learned to laugh through my tears
I was born to love
I'm gonna learn to love without fear

Main Course
What do you do/take when you are in pain?

One Tylenol extra-strength usually does it.

Dessert
Fill in the blanks: My GOD is very ALIVE.

Thursday...

It's Thursday, in the midst of the summer's first HOT spell of the season. Rain and thundernlightning are forecast to rumble through later and break the heat into tiny bits.

Nothing much to report on this week, I'm afraid. I've been sharing the help desk load at work each day (except for my monday solo flights!). It reminds me that I like being a tech much better than working the phones.

Our intrepid baseball Cardinals have endured two frightful games against the ChiSox so far this week. Either our pitchers are suddenly really bad or their hitters are just that good. My eyes popped a bit on Tuesday night when I saw the 20-spot they put on us.

I made a new musical discovery yesterday. Read about it in My Tunes.

I've been checking out Mark Lowry's podcasts recently. Mark is a Christian entertainer who was associated with Bill Gaither on the gospel circuit for many years. He's a pretty funny guy.

Hollywood comes to St. Louis!...

I had heard rumors about a movie being filmed in St. Louis and more rumours about Jessica Alba being involved in said movie. Well, today I was making a Father's Day card run to a nearby Hallmark store and noticed a crowd gathered on the sidewalk around an Oberweis Dairy ice cream parlor. I slowed down a bit and saw what looked like a film crew setting up around the building. I drove on and took care of my card-buying, then stopped by the scene on my way back. It turns out I was was right! The movie is called "Bill" and indeed Jessica Alba is starring in the movie. The Oberweis building was being used to film a scene, though it was renamed "Sweet Sweet" for the movie.

NO, I didn't catch even a glimpse of Jessica Alba, because they were filming inside the building while I was there. However, I did run home and get my camera, so here are some pictures I snapped. I stayed for about two hours, then left as a thunderstorm began blowing in from the south.

This was a really cool thing to see because movies NEVER film in St. Louis. One of the bystanders I talked to said that the movie crew really liked filming here. Let's hope we get some more movie traffic as a result!

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I was reminded that my life isn't a movie when I returned home to find the thunderstorm had deposited a large portion of my backyard maple tree onto my deck. Thank goodness for cross-cut saws and yard waste pickup!

Too many beauty pageants?

How do you know when there are too many beauty pageants in the world? When you read this story:

Pageant vet claims Little Miss Horseradish title

Little Miss Horseradish? holy cow.

Where do you buy your music?

My Tunes updated tonight with a report of my CD-buying spree this weekend. It begs the question, "where do YOU buy your music?" I usually buy from Best Buy because if they have what I'm looking for their prices are usually $14-$15 for a new CD, less for older CDs. I will buy from Borders if Best Buy doesn't have what I'm looking for and/or if the CD is on sale for $15 or less. Borders' prices are usually so high that I check their real-time inventory stock before I go. Beyond those two, I'll go to Amazon or Half.com if I'm looking for a CD that's older and I don't mind buying used. I also frequent the several used CD stores near me for older, out-of-print stuff that's off the beaten path.l

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Nothing exciting happened this weekend. I covered the night shift at work last night and spent a quiet day around the house and doing chores and such. Work's going to be not so fun for the next few weeks as our help desk operator has taken a tech job with our sister publication and I'm one of the two other techs that will be filling in until his position is filled.

Got spammed...

I'll be turning on word verification for comments, folks. I got comment-spammed overnight, which isn't cool.

Friday's Feast

(Inspired by DCBrownie, who put hers up first)

Appetizer
About how much money did you spend on gas this week?

It was around $40 at $2.74 or so per gallon.

Soup
What is your favortite brand of toilet paper?

toilet paper? what's that? JUST KIDDING! It's Charmin, in the double roll!

Salad
When was the last time you discovered something that you thought was pure genius?

I have to go along with DCBrownie on this one, the production of Julius Caesar I saw this week was pure genius!

Main Course
What is the least amount of sleep you can get by on per night?

about 6 hours or so.

Dessert
June is a popular month for weddings. Do you know anyone who is getting married this month?

My friend C. is getting married at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Orlando, FL at some point this month, but I haven't been invited. My BSF discussion group leader D. is getting married in Taylor, MO in a couple of weeks, I believe. I was invited but am not attending.

Friends, Romans, Countrymen...

One of the fun things that happens in early summer in St. louis is "Shakespeare in the Park." Shakespeare Festival St. Louis takes over a section of Forest Park for a free open-air production of a Shakespeare play (likely very similar to what DCBrownie and her date experienced last Saturday.) I met some of my Metro Singers friends last night for this year's production of Julius Caesar. We managed to secure a vantage point close to the stage in a blankets-only section. It was a glorious evening full of idyllic sights and sounds. If my readers will indulge me, I will list some of what struck me:

--The expansive stone patio behind the Art Museum that looks out on to Art Hill and the lake beyond it.

--Picnic-ing with friends on a clear, sunny evening (bonus points for bare feet!).

--The perpetually-smiling, big black bear of a dog near us, resting lazily in the grass.

--The band of toga-ed kids that paraded through the crowd, inviting people to the children's show.

--Being so close to the stage so as to actually see the expressions on the actors' faces.

--Taking in a timeless classic of literature and drama performed by skilled actors, in a venue The Bard would surely approve of.

As a bonus, traffic in and out of the park was no problem. I found a close parking lot and didn't get lost leaving the park. It was a very good night.

The Weekender...

So ends another weekend...

I am back in my bedroom, sort of. The floors in both bedrooms have been refinished to a flawless satin finish and my furniture is back in place, albeit temporarily. There are still new baseboards and painting yet to be done but at least I can sleep in there again. My parents are returning to the British Virgin Islands this week for more sailing on the high seas, this year with a couple from their church. So I'll have to wait until they return so they can help me finish the project.

This afternoon I drove out to Augusta, MO to bike another section of the Katy Trail. I biked from Augusta out to Marthasville, 23 miles round-trip, in a little less than 3 hours. No Missouri River, just a lot of farmland and breezy woodlands. It was a nice day for biking, with a slight breeze and temperatures in the low 80s. On the way home I got the idea to call my brother for nutritional advice, since I figured my body needed to recover from the bike trip somehow. He advised protein, protein, protein. So, once home, I scarfed down a leftover fried chicken breast from Cracker Barrel, leftover rice from Wednesday night dinner, and a PBJ sandwich. I think I accomplished that little mission nicely.

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That little earthquake you felt yesterday was the earth trembling when Albert Pujols pulled a muscle in his side during yesterday's game. The media-proclaimed Hero of Cardinal Nation has now landed on the disabled list for the first time in his illustrious career. The injury, coupled wtih Mark Mulder's sudden horribility (and a sudden rash of other injuries), led intrepid P-D columnist Bernie Miklasz to proclaim that the NL Central division race is now "open again." I wouldn't go that far because we went through this last season and won the division. We did rebound nicely today with a 9-6 thrashing of the Cubbies to salvage one game of the series.

In a way, I'm glad AP got hurt because I feel the media coverage of his season thus far was becoming ridiculous. (Now don't get me wrong. I'm as big a fan of AP as anyone else. I love the way he carries himself as a Christian man and the influence he's having on MLB.) My employer, the local metropolitan daily newspaper, today printed one section of a 4-part life-size poster of AP. Maybe now the writers and reporters will figure out that he is indeed human. If they'd attended church with me today, they'd have heard that "man is ordinary, but God is extraordinary." I'm sure AP would second that sentiment.