So, Yes, I Did Dress Up For Halloween!...

appropriate character for a chorus rehearsal, eh?

Podcasts this week...

Oh and I forgot to mention that I have decided to try some podcasts based on my other blog. One song per day, short and sweet. I'll keep you posted if they get posted!

Monday, Monday...ba-da, ba-da-da-da...

It's a windy, mild day in St. Louis today. The weekend weather was unbelieveably gorgeous after last week's cold and rain. Unfortunately this weather goodness stops after today.

The weather was perfect for yesterday's victory parade and rally for our WORLD CHAMPION CARDINALS!!!!!!!!! A few days after the fact, the harsh reality is that it was an improbable title run for an average team. The World Series was pretty ugly, quite frankly. We won mostly because we made less mistakes than the Tigers did. Errors led to many of our runs and we ended up grinding out the Series win in 5 games. That said, I'm still giddy that we won it all. I have purchased a championship t-shirt like a good fan. My brother and sis-in-law were vacationing in Mexico last week and I hope they got a satellite feed at their hotel. I didn't get downtown for the parade and rally, regrettably. A concert with my community chorus kept me away.

Continue to keep my grandpa in your thoughts and prayers. I'm not at liberty to divulge too much but he had an unfortunately eventful week and will be hospitalized for a while longer.

WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!...

Stream of conscious:


WOW, what a feeling, what an experience!

How could this have happened? The 2006 St. Louis Cardinals, against the highest of odds, are the WORLD SERIES CHAMPS!!! I'm still in a state of disbelief. The unthinkable really has happened. We really won the World Series. In the first season of a new ballpark, with a starting pitcher rescued from the mid-season scrap heap and a rookie closer subbing for our injured closer. We beat a good Padres club, a great Mets team, and then reached the mountaintop by conquering the Detroit Tigers and their fireballing pitchers.

In the end, fielding miscues and untimely hitting did the Tigers in, as much as our great pitching and timely hitting helped us. Baseball purists will lament that the two best teams didn't play in this series but it was a thrilling series nonetheless. The Tigers players lacked the Series experience that many of our players had and it showed. However, they have a great base of talent for the future and will be competitive for many years to come.

The Cardinals' history with 3-1 leads wasn't good. I really didn't want us to go back to Detroit to try and win the series. It would have been so much harder!

As I am employed at St. Louis' Only Local Metropolitan Daily Newspaper, I got a behind-the-scenes look at our preparations for the various scenarios that could play out. Our circulation, news, and production managers huddled often to coordinate strategy. Strategy, as in 'how would we print a Saturday paper, an early Sunday paper, and a Stadium Extra edition, if needed, all in the same night, at almost the same time?" Suffice it to say, all six of our printing presses are in operation tonight. The Stadium Extra edition got major display time as our local television news crews did their live spots after the game, so our management will be very happy about that.

An 83-79 baseball team that endured two eight-game losing streaks, and stumbled into the postseason courtesy of the Atlanta Braves wins the World Series. They win it with a skillet-handed right fielder and several players with holes in their swings. Who else would you give the MVP award to but David Eckstein? He's the 2006 edition of Rex Hudler. And did anyone notice that our heroic slugger Albert Pujols didn't do too much at the plate during the series? Gotta hand it to our starting pitchers - The Two Jeffs, Weaver and Suppan, both pitched unbelieveably well, our rookie starter flashed his potential at just the right time, and our ace Carp finally got the Series experience he missed two years ago. Unbelievable.

Congratulations to the Cardinals.

Monday...

The Cardinals rode the wave of we-defeated-the-Mets momentum through exactly one game, opening the World Series with a 7-2 shocker over Detroit on Saturday night. Of course, no one expected Anthony Reyes to pitch up to his potential but we're glad he did. The number of streaks that were broken as a result of this win are too numerous to mention(Tony LaRussa hadn't won a Series game since the 80's, we hadn't won on the road since the '80s, the National League hadn't won a Series game in a few years, etc...) so it was a great game all around. Last night, however, we crashed back to reality when another 40-year old lefty left us pretty much helpless at the plate all night long. The Tigers' closer did his best Isringhausen impression, loading the bases and giving us brief hope, but the game inevitably ended in their favor. I didn't think we had a chance, but now I think we could take it to 6 games before the Tigers win the series.

On a personal note, I'd appreciate your prayers and good thoughts for my Papaw. He was rushed to the hospital in Cape Girardeau late Friday night with severe abdominal pain. He'd been passing blood for a couple of weeks and was in between doctor visits for that but it got suddenly worse. He's in the hospital now and will be undergoing tests today to find out what's going on. My mom is optimistic but I fear something bad is wrong with him.

AMAZIN'...!!!!!!!!!!!

So a Cardinals baseball team that nearly choked away a huge lead in their division and backed into the playoffs is going to the WORLD SERIES!!!!!!!

I am stunned and amazed.

I watched the game tonight while channel-surfing (YES I was too nervous to keep it on all night!). How's this for a storyline: Our starting pitcher keeps it a tight game, against all odds. Our catcher, who struggled at the plate this year, hits a home run to put us on top. Our rookie closer loads the bases in the bottom of the ninth and then strikes out the Mets' last, very best hope LOOKING! I danced around and did get a little emotional; that situation is what every pitcher dreams of. Striking out the other team's best hitter with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning of a decisive game. Such validation!

I never thought we had a chance to do it and yet we did. This should be an interesting next 7 days at the P-D. Of course, our coverage will be ramped up and our circulation numbers will likely spike, which will make the management happy.

Of course, the harsh reality of our situation is we must face the might Detroit Tigers. The well-rested Detroit Tigers who swept the A's in their series. I hope we don't get swept as in our previous World Series trip 2 years ago.

But that worry can wait until tomorrow; for now:

I still can't believe it!

GO CARDS!!!!!!!!

If Rainy Days and Mondays...

...always get you down, then I hope you stayed in bed today because it's Monday and it's raining here in the metro area. It's just cruel to have to get out of bed on a cold, rainy Monday! I have a sinking feeling that my basement will have water in it when I return home. I got estimates on fixing the 2 troublesome wall cracks but never got around to having them fixed. [EDIT: NO WATER! I was shocked to find no water came through the cracks!]

but the weekend was fun. I spent much of Saturday out shopping again. I think I finally have my fall/winter wardrobe taken care of. In the past I didn't much care about things like a fall wardrobe, but for some reason, I'm thinking about things like coordinating colors and such. Is it a little bit of my brother's style sense invading my psyche? Maybe he left part of himself hanging around my place when he moved out around this time last year.

I made it back in time to see the Mizzou Tigers lose their first football game, to Texas A&M, 25-19. Ugh! They should win the majority of their remaining games, so a big-time bowl game is likely in our postseason future.

Saturday night was the annual barn dance with my monday-night bible study group. It's always held in a horse barn at the Rocking-J Ranch in High Ridge, MO. They provide a square-dance caller to lead the dances. (This year was a new guy, as the beloved Earl finally had to retire.) It's always so much fun, if you can stand the copious dust clouds that get kicked up. Part of the fun is learning and re-learning all the moves in a big group setting. Everyone gets to know everyone a little bit, and if by chance you hit it off with someone, you can always adjourn to the bonfire out back and watch the sparks fly, if you know what I mean. I should clarify that the bible study class doesn't sanction or sponsor this event; it's sort of an "unofficial" fellowship.

Sunday afternoon was my community chorus' first fall concert, in Waterloo, IL. We sang well enough, I guess. Later in the evening I met my parents and bro/sis-in-law for my dad's birthday dinner at Tucker's. We ended the evening with dessert at my house.

So our Cardinals are locked up with the Mets at 2 games apiece. Last night's game went as I knew it would, with our un-playoff-tested rookie pitcher not lasting but 4 innings. The Mets lineup feasted on all our pitching and shifted the momentum back to their side. I still say the Mets will take the series in 6. It looks like tonight's game may be washed out if the rain doesn't let up soon. That would be nice to give the pitchers an extra day of rest. Our guy Weaver is due for a meltdown after throwing 3 unusually good games and I hope it doesn't come tonight.

Monday morning, sunnybrightandcheery!...

At least it is in St. Louis this morning. It's been over a week, and yes, kmom, before you ask, I am still alive! : ) Let's recap: It's been a quiet week in Lake Woebegon, my hometown..wait, that's somebody else's line. I've settled back into my fall routine of Monday night bible study and Tuesday night chorus rehearsal. BSF is studying the book of Romans this year, which has made for markedly more difficult lessons than last year's study of Genesis. There's lots of doctrinal stuff to chew on and it doesn't always make sense on first read. Next Saturday night is the annual fall tradition, the BSF Square Dance! I'll write more about it after it happens, but it's always a hoot!

My chorus is preparing for two fall concerts featuring Robert Ray's "Gospel Mass." It's a black gospel-style Mass that has been really fun to rehearse and will sound great in performance. The concerts will also have us performing an Swahili processional, two Copland numbers, and an ode to the "River In Judea." It's all about variety, people!

Saturday, I did a little shopping for fall wardrobe items, which proved only partially sucessful. Later, I headed out to Castlewood State Park and spent the remainder of the gorgeous afternoon hiking among the falling leaves and gentle breezes. The only downer was that my Leatherman multi-tool fell off my person somewhere along the trail. I'll call the park office to see if anyone turned it in, but I'm not optimistic. I spent the evening at a bonfire with friends. The bonfire was huge, and emitted heat similar to that of a small nuclear device. We couldn't toast marshmallows for over an hour. [EDIT: My friend G. who hosted the bonfire called me tonight and said he found my Leatherman in his backyard, where I must have dropped it in the darkness. YAY!]

It was a good sports weekend for the local teams. Mizzou's Tigers rolled over Texas Tech's Red Raiders to run their record to 6-0 this season. I see a bowl in our future. The Rams won yet another game they shouldn't have, taking the Packers 23-20. Brett Favre was leading his team to sure victory when we made a desperate defensive play to end the game abruptly. To top off the night, the Cardinals finished off the Padres to win the division series 3 games to 1. Our ace pitcher was on the hill but started off shakily. He started breathing after the first inning and settled down to his usual greatness. Hated to see Woody Williams go out like he did in the sixth inning; he's a nice guy. Can't say our chances are good against the Mets, but at least we advanced, which is more than the Yankees can say. What did a $200 million+ payroll get them? Nothing!

Yay! my buddy M. of What is Possible is now home from his job assignment in India, this time for good. It was good to talk to him at church yesterday.

The picture above was taken on Saturday from the bluffs overlooking the Meramec River within Castlewood.