Weekender...

quiet weekend in my world...drove up to Maplewood yesterday to get Chili-dog's nails trimmed at Airedale Antics. A local Greyhound rescue group does nail trims there every month for a $5 donation. They used to camp out at a nearby Petco store to do them, but they apparently got kicked out over potential liability issues. It was a cold but clear and sunny day yesterday so Chili and I took some time to explore the "main street" area of Maplewood since I rarely drive through there and when I do it's usually at night. (For my St. Louis readers I'm referring to the area of Big Bend and Manchester.) Maplewood's done a good job of revitalizing their downtown area with a variety of shops and restaurants. I also noticed several small concert and theater venues. Must get by there more often.

...Actually my quiet weekend started off loudly on Friday night. I caught Fundamental Elements in concert with Tim Be Told at a new local art space called The Chapel. The Chapel is, as its name suggests, an old stone chapel located behind Memorial Presbyterian Church near Forest Park in St. Louis. MPC has set up the building as an art gallery and concert space for local artists. FE did a great set, performing most of their most recent CD and previewing some songs from their upcoming CD. Tim Be Told is a younger group of guys from Virginia that FE met at a festival last year. They have a good sound and I hope they go far!

...don't remember if I wrote about last weekend, but I and some friends did another trivia night last Saturday night. This one benefited the local Boys Hope Girls Hope chapter. I believe we finished 7th or 8th out of 60+ tables.

...last Sunday I enjoyed family time with the parents plus bro-sis-in-law-niece Lydia. It was sort of a late celebration of my bro's birthday. Sure am glad he likes lemon cake because that's what my mom always makes for him and it sure is good!

...enjoyed hearing the story today of how my church was instrumental in bringing the Gospel to the Tatarstan region of Russia. There were literally no churches there when we interfaced with a few local Christians there back in 1991 and planted a single church. Now there are many churches in the region and we enjoy a thriving partnership with the Free churches there. My church has a long history of church planting. We were the first EFCA church in St. Louis when we got started back in 1983. The only other one in Missouri at the time was in Columbia. We've since planted two others in this area and there are over 30 Free churches in Missouri now.

Practicing For Next Year's Super Bowl Halftime Show...

From "For Better Or For Worse" - the New Bentwood Rockers!!!

seriously, why all the old folks at Super Bowl intermission lately? Did Justin and Janet damage our collective psyches that much?

Lucky Guy!...

How good is it to be Chase Daniel this morning? Mizzou's former star QB went undrafted last spring, later signed with the Redskins, was cut after training camp, and finally landed with the New Orleans Saints last fall. He spent the season being repeatedly released and re-signed to their roster and practice squad before finally being promoted as the Saints' third QB on January 1. He was on the roster for the Super Bowl and despite never playing a down, he gets a Super Bowl ring.

In spite of all his regular-season heroics, Colts QB Peyton Manning is just 9-9 in the postseason and, as the P-D's Bernie Miklasz noted at the end of his column today, has the same number of Super Bowl rings as Chase Daniel.

One.

A "Model" Friend...

If you see this book in your local bookstore and wonder "are those two really married?" I can tell you the answer is "no!" The male part of the couple there is my friend Luke. He occasionally works as a model and did some royalty-free photo shoots last year; basically the pictures are available as stock pictures for anyone who needs images for print or internet publications. For example, you might also see this picture in an ad where a "happy couple" picture is needed. So far I've noticed him in a local Toyota dealer's newspaper ads and other friends say they've noticed him in different places.

oh, to be young and handsome again.... : )

(props to Jimmah, who first blogged about this and gave me the idea to also blog about it.)