Arthur Branch for President?

Actor Fred Thompson, currently starring in the "Law and Order" crime drama has picked up his first endorsement for President in 2008. From whom, you ask? None other than Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder.

So the question I have as a result of this is, "who cares that the lieutenant governor of Missouri has endorsed anyone?" I don't understand a lot of politics but this one is a head-scratcher. To me this endorsement is comparable to the average call to a sports radio call-in show. "Uhhhh, OK! Thanks for calling, appreciate your opinion! Next caller...."

Bill McClellan of the P-D wrote a great column about this topic.

Too moderate for their tastes...

The Missouri Baptist Convention has given the "YOU'RE FIRED!" treatment to their (former) executive director David Clippard. The party line blathers on about his leadership style and temperament but the I believe he was too moderate and sensible for the conservatives' liking. You don't play ball with the Baptists, they'll give you (and/or your church) the boot.

................

Had a nice visit last night with my Uncle John, who resides in Florida with his wife and is rarely seen in these parts. We broke bread at Tucker's with my parents and Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Jim. Uncle J. was here on a return bratwurst run to Hermann, MO after staying there while in town for my brother's wedding a couple of years ago. He will spend today in my dad's basement wood shop building a shipping crate for a miter saw he bought through my dad last fall. He returns to warmer weather tomorrow.

Because I Was A Teenage Boy Once...

It Fell Into A Burnin' Ring Of Fire!!...

Say it ain't so! Johnny and June Carter Cash's former home in Hendersonville, Tennessee was destroyed by fire yesterday. Former Bee-Gee Barry Gibb had bought the home and was renovating it. Bad timing: The interior and exterior walls had just been coated with a flammable preservative.

The songs that were written and the singers and songwriters that passed through that house!! So much history gone up in smoke!

A real shame.

Root Canal City...

paid another visit there this afternoon.

'Nuff said.

Another disagreeable Monday...

My Monday started off with painful jolt around 2:30 in the morning today - toothache city! It's the tooth I had filled back in January. Hopefully it's just a cracked filling...the worst thing is I couldn't get back to sleep! I remember feeling something as I was I was wolfing down my Mom's Easter ham at dinner yesterday. My date with the dentist is today at 2:30, ironically.

(incidentally, why couldn't God have made our teeth indestructible or at least self-maintaining? Would that have been so hard while he was speaking the universe into being back in the day?)

and...it wouldn't be a Monday in my world if a hard drive didn't fail somewhere in the world. Another one crashed today, this time just a clerk's computer, not nearly as important as last week's winner. This one is no problem to recover from.

Cardinals...back to reality...

Jeff Gordon said it best about the '07 Cardinals and their 0-3 record:

"So what concerns you the most about the Cardinals, their poor hitting, spotty pitching or sloppy defense?"

The season's only 3 games old but there is cause for concern.

Thursday, and someone turned off the heater...

Ah, nothing like a nice April cold snap reality jolt, after a couple of weeks of Spring warmth!

I had a good day off yesterday. I slept in and puttered around the house in the morning. After lunch I drove out to Castlewood State Park to check out the blooming foliage on the trees. I hiked the trail on the bluffs and through the bottomland of the Meramec River for a couple of blissful hours. In the evening I took in a great jazz concert at the Sheldon - Pat Metheny and Brad Mehldau. Metheny's guitar and Mehldau's piano melded together in a series of satisfying, creative duets. They were joined on several numbers by Mehldau's trio mates, drummer Jeff Ballard and bassist Larry Grenadier. The four musicians played songs from their two recent CDs. The $50 balcony ticket price was a little steep but definitely worth it to see musicians of this caliber.

The hard drive saga from Monday appears to have come to a happy conclusion. I had a message this morning from the data recovery company and they said they were able to make a full recovery of the data. This is good news.

Mondays Should Come With A Liability Waiver...

...that was the punchline in a recent "Frazz" comic strip and boy, did it ever apply to my day. There's an old Willie Nelson song that is goes, "the last thing I needed the first thing this morning was to have you walk out on me." Well, the last thing I needed first thing this morning was to have a critical manager's computer walk out on her. Or rather, to have its hard drive walk out on it. When my VP walked in to our office area and asked that someone go down and "get her computer to boot!!" I happened to be at my desk and, true to my fireman's nature, went to check out the fire. My heart sank when I heard the ominous, telltale, "clunk clunk" from inside her computer. Despite my best rescue attempts, I could not save it. I have shipped it to a local data recovery company in hopes that they can save her data. Oh, by the way, she had nothing backed up to a server so this would be a bad loss. A user losing an entire hard drive is like a boxer getting hit below the belt...computer techs take it personally.

That coupled with the usual Monday flurry of calls made for a stressful day. The fact were down one day tech and one evening tech didn't help matters any. There's a part of me that wishes I'd stayed in bed and extended the weekend a day. There's another part of me that reminds the other part that days like today are part of the business I chose to be in and these days are going to happen, so get through it and get on with it. I'm taking Wednesday off (because I have to work Saturday this week) so there's a bit of a breather coming soon.

What We Need Is A Little Humor!...

Since it's dark, raining, and all-around gloomy this morning and I've already dealt with 2 computers exhibiting Monday-type behavior on a Friday, I feel the need for a little humor injection.
.......................
Two peanuts walk into a bar, and one was a salted.

A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I'll serve you but don't start anything!"

A sandwich walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Sorry, we don't serve food here!"

A dyslexic man walks into a bra.

Why was the ant so confused? All his uncles were ants!

Why was the archaeologist so depressed? His career was always in ruins!


And for all you politics fans out there:

Deja Moo: The distinct feeling that you've heard all this bull before.
.........................

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Weekender...

I hope the weather where you are was as pleasant as it was here this weekend! I took advantage of the sunny skies and mid-60s temperatures yesterday. A new section of Grant's Trail opened late last fall but I never got a chance to ride it. I took a couple of hours yesterday afternoon and rode it all the way to the end. It formerly stopped at the northern edge of Grant's Farm but now extends through the suburbs of Crestwood and southern Kirkwood. A really nice ride! I got in a little head start on the spring yardwork after I got back.

Any March Madness folks out there? This year's field of 64 has been assembled. Illinois and SIU-Carbondale made it in but Mizzou never had a chance. They left their game in Columbia and got embarrassed by the Baylor Bears in their first conference tournament game. If the NIT comes calling, I'd turn them down based on that sorry effort.

Yes, DST came early this year but I'm not complaining. I think I welcome the extra hour of daylight. It's not officially spring for a few mores weeks but as the song says, it might as well be spring...

I submitted my taxes a couple of weeks ago; my refunds are essentially the same as in previous years. I have the funds earmarked for some exterior home improvements and maybe a new computer this year.

Supper...

Birthday meme...

Following the lead of DCBrownie, I have queried Wikipedia and found the following correlations to my birthday, April 17:

Events
1937 - Daffy Duck debuts in Warner Bros.' short "Porky's Duck Hunt."
1964 - The Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Mustang at the New York World's Fair.
1973 - Federal Express delivers its first package.

Birthdays
1972 - Gary Bennett, American baseball player (current backup catcher for my St. Louis Cardinals)
1974 - Victoria Beckham (aka Posh Spice), English singer

Death
1790 - Benjamin Franklin, American inventor, diplomat, and printer (b. 1706)

Holiday
Feast Day of Saint Stephen Harding (d. 1134), Christian saint and monastic abbot, one of the founders of the Cistercian Order

Latest Evidence of the Decline of Western Civilization...

I noticed this when I was in my local Borders store on Saturday. All I could do was smile and shake my head in amazed disbelief/amusement....I kid you not, a self-help book has been developed into A BOARD GAME!


Oh. My. Gosh. Who would dare show up at a game night with this? Would you take it to a party? ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!! Read all about it here.

Now That's Hockey!...

From Dan O'Neill's "Hit and Run"column today:

Gotta love the way Anaheim Ducks general manager Brian Burke described Brad May after he acquired May from Colorado last week. Burke told the Orange County Register: "He's tougher than a night in jail."

Ever seen a walking birthday cake?

Little Abigail Breslin was the sentimental favorite but didn't win - her co-star oldie Alan Arkin did, though

What happens on the dance floor...

...stays on the dance floor. The scene from Saturday night's BSF Winter Semi-Formal:


I busted a few moves, yes. Shattered them, actually. Disclaimer: This wasn't an "official" BSF social event, just a yearly tradition we organize among ourselves.

Me on a snowmobile!

I finally got hold of my dad's pictures from the snowmobile tour we took on our fourth day of our Colorado vacation. This was the most enjoyable part of the vacation for me! Here's me solo, and me with my mom riding backseat.

An Invisible Man Married An Invisible Woman...

Their kids were nothing to look at.

Pictures...

I finally posted some vacation pictures at Flickr....check them out!

Bald Britney...

[WE TEMPORARILY LOWER THE IQ OF THIS BLOG IN ORDER TO BRING YOU THE FOLLOWING POST ABOUT BRITNEY SPEARS. I PROMISE IT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN.]

OK, so Miss Spears does one night in a Caribbean drug rehab, overnights it back to Hollywood where she promptly shaves her own noggin clean and adds to her body art collection.

She's over the edge, folks. Look down into the deep end and you'll find her swimming around it in it. I think the star-making celebrity machine has officially chewed her up and spit her out.

Here's hoping someone intervenes and saves her before it's too late.

Or maybe it is too late.

Me On Skis, The End...

In retrospect, I'm really glad I was able to go on this vacation to Colorado. The long drives to and from and the air mattress I had to sleep on were really minor inconveniences. My ski school experience went just about as I thought it would. This year was all about learning and if I ever come back I imagine I'll have more fun. : ) The most satisfying parts of the trip were the many photo opportunities I had and the snowmobile tour at the end of the week.

Would I go again? Absolutely. Who wouldn't? It was a good vacation and a good way to get away from the daily routine. Did the skiing push me way out of my comfort zone? You bet. I should get out of there more often.

This trip worked largely because of the company I was with. My parents talked up this trip relentlessly and encouraged me during the ski school. They couldn't wait for me to see the mountains. The other couple on the trip were easy to travel and live with. They'd done this vacation for several years prior and they had the daily routine planned out so all I had to do was go with the flow.

They say I need to come back in the summer time for hiking and biking...I hope it's sooner rather than later!

Homeward (Snow) Bound...

Our traveling party left our condo in the pre-dawn darkness of Friday for the trip home. It was snowing moderately as we entered I-70 eastbound. Traveling through the mountains on a snowy interstate is no one's idea of a good time, obviously! : ) Most eerie was that the interstate was closed at the Eisenhower Tunnel so a line of trucks carrying hazardous materials could go through first. The snow continued as the sky became lighter and lighter. Not until Denver did it let up. We headed into Kansas after a breakfast stop in Limon, Colorado.

The drive was uneventful until the sky turned ominously gray about a half hour west of Topeka. Sure enough, we drove into an ice/snow squall that slowed traffic considerably. My dad was driving and grimly noted "we'll have to adjust our ETA." Spun-out cars and semi-trucks began appearing randomly on the road. Traffic finally came to a dead halt for about 30 minutes while a bad accident was cleared. Eventually we started moving and the ice/snow tapered off as we drove throuth Topeka.

The rest of the trip was a white-knuckle navigation down I-70 into Kansas City and throughout Missouri. The highway was alternately ice and snow packed and snow was blowing fiercely, which slowed our speed down to 35-45 mph. Thus a 3.5 hour trip from KC to St. Louis became more like 6 hours. It was nerve-wracking but we made it.

Me on a Snowmobile...

On Thursday we took a two-hour snowmobile tour of some of the beautiful wilderness of Colorado. We caught our ride in a nearby town and headed up into the back country. The van dropped us off at a base camp where we put on helmets and boots and got the required safety briefing. My dad reserved four snowmobiles for our group, which meant my mom rode piggyback on my snowmobile. The tour was guided so we wouldn't get lost on the trails. I had a blast navigating through some of the most beautiful wilderness I'd ever experienced. This feeling was mutual among the other members of our group. Unfortunately, my driving kept me from taking pictures but my dad did manage to get some, which are still on his camera. I will post some when I get copies.

We didn't get to do any snowshoeing because of the way the snowmobiling was timed. I did get in a nice afternoon hike on the bike trail that borders Lake Dillon. That evening we had a nice meal out at a local restaurant then packed up for the trip home.

The picture of above was taken from the snowmobile base camp after our tour ended. I also snapped a couple of pictures of Cooper the camp dog. He'll be in my Flickr set of pictures.

Me On Skis, Part Three...

[Now I'm back to creating posts in retrospect. I didn't have time to pre-compose any further postings]

Wednesday concluded my ski school experience. I got the same instructor that I had on Tuesday, luckily. He said we would warm up on the hill we had skied on previously and would graduate to the big chair lift if we appeared ready to ski a bigger hill. In my heart I knew I wasn't ready and was already planning to stay on the smaller hill if given the choice. As fate would have it, (or maybe God planned it? : ) ) the platter lift on the smaller hill was broken so we had no choice but to graduate. I rolled off the big chair lift and fell to the ground but the operator pulled me out of the way before I got hit by the chair behind me : ) Finally skiing a real downhill slope was a huge challenge for me, mentally. The instructor knew it would be for the whole group so we did it in little bits at a time! The hill wasn't any steeper than what we had practiced on, just longer and dotted with pine trees. I did it, slowly, but I did it! I fell a few times but again, didn't hurt myself.

After lunch, I did one more run down the smaller hill I knew well then packed it in for the day. I spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the village around the lodge and taking pictures. It snowed periodically throughout the three days we skied and made for some nice pictures.

Me On Skis, PartTwo...

[The following post was composed on Tuesday, February 13]

I started out the day in a Level Two class and caught another great instructor. My group today numbered about 7 students They came from places like Miami, Baltimore, Houston, and Great Britain. All female and all married, darn the luck! One of the students was in my class from yesterday and did the remedial course with me. She was from Miami and vacationing with her husband and young son, who was seeing snow up close for the first time.

I learned a lot and made good progress from yesterday. The instructor was mega-patient and very helpful to all of us. I didn’t make it onto the chair lift today, unfortunately. I stayed on the same hill as yesterday and I think I will stay there tomorrow as well. I’m just beginning to get good at making turns with the skis and am not confident enough to move forward. The instructor said that was the right way to go.

The snow was much, much better today. It had been groomed overnight and everyone had a great time on the slopes.

We got smart about lunch today and took most of our own food to eat. All I had to buy was a $7.00 hot dog. That’s right, $7.00 .

The sky at daybreak today was breathtakingly gorgeous. There was just the right mix of clouds and sun. The mountains were majestic as the woke to greet the day. I took lots of pictures and they will be on my Flickr site sometime after I get back in town.

We’ll have one more day of skiing tomorrow then do a snowmobile tour on Thursday. We might have time to snowshoe in the afternoon. Then, it’s a long day of driving home on Friday.

The picture above was taken at daybreak from the balcony of our condo. Our condo is located on the banks of Lake Dillon in the town of Dillon, Colorado. In the winter, the lake is frozen over, which you see as the white space in the foreground.

Me On Skis (The Reality), Part One...

[The following post was composed on Tuesday, February 13. I was too tired to compose it on the 11th. A bit of reading help: "we all" or "we" will refer to all of us on the ski vacation; my mom, me, and the pastor and his wife]

My mom warned me that the first day of ski school would likely be traumatic. She was right. After bundling up, we headed to Breckenridge, about 20 minutes from our condo. Once there, I got fitted for boots and skis then headed out to the ski school area. I had about 10 people in my group from all over the country. Our instructor was a guy from Michigan. (The instructors are dispersed by their supervisors depending on enrollment and skill levels.] Unfortunately, his teaching style didn't click with my learning style and I didn't advance to the afternoon session with my class.

I met my parents for lunch at the ski lodge. To my shock, I saw that food prices were, shall we say INFLATED, to say the least. I paid, GET THIS, $14.00 for a cheeseburger, basket of fries, and a medium-size soda. $14.00!!!! WHAT THE %^@@@%*#????!!! I didn’t know the big oil companies were in the food-court business. It wasn’t just that; all the food was priced at least double what it would be anywhere else. I could only shake my head in amazement! There was really nowhere else to eat nearby, so I guess they have a monopoly. Everyone coming off the slopes is wearing ski boots, which are a pain in the rear to walk around in. Their restaurant is convenient and the only real option so let the gouging begin. : )

As I mentioned earlier, my afternoon ski school was the polar opposite of the morning school. There were three others besides me who needed further help. We were assigned a really great instructor. He took things much slower and explained things so I could understand them, as Forrest Gump would say. Since there were only four of us in the group, he could analyze us individually. Part of my problem was that my ski boots were a bit too loose and he whipped out a tool to tighten them up. This made all the difference in the world! By the end of the day I was feeling much better about my prospects of being a competent skier.

Oh, and encase you’re wondering, I did fall, several times. In inconvenient places, several times. Thankfully, I didn’t get hurt at all. Skiing involves moving most of the muscles in your legs so it helps to have them well conditioned. I had worked out pretty hard but I still ended up with lots of sore muscles. It turns out that the day didn’t go so well for the other skiers in my company. The slopes weren’t in great shape after the weekend and persistent snow showers during the day made for tough skiing. A hot shower soothed my aching muscles while the others soaked in a hot tub downstairs. A hot meal and a game of Scrabble made up the rest of the night.

Interesting aside: what I didn’t expect was the number of foreigners employed by the ski resort. I encountered workers from Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and Argentina, just to name a few.

My dad snapped the picture of me above. Ignore my bad form; I was still learning! The apparatus in the background is a "platter lift." It's a pole with a mini-frisbee attached to the bottom. They are attached to a moving clothesline that goes up the hill. The idea is to grab onto the pole, let the mini-frisbee grab you between the legs, and it pulls you back up the hill. You have to get off at the proper time and start moving forward or you could start sliding back down the hill, as I did a few times until that mental block got unblocked!

Head For the Mountains...

[The following post was composed on Sunday, February 11]

---------------

The other couple on this ski vacation with my parents and me is the pastor of their church and his wife. Instead of going to church somewhere, we had a short devotional time at the hotel this morning. This pastor is beloved to his flock, which included me before I moved away. It was neat to hear him work through a couple of scripture verses.

We fueled up at a nearby IHOP then headed into the Rocky Mountains. The temperature was in the 40s as we started out but fell quickly into the low 30s as we climbed. “America The Beautiful” contains a familiar passage about “purple mountain majesty” and I am experiencing that firsthand. The beauty of the snow-capped peaks is truly awe-inspiring.

Our condo has a great view of a frozen-over lake with the majestic mountains in the distance. The condo is really nice. It’s 2 bedrooms and 2 baths with a living room and kitchen. The living room has a gas fireplace and an outside deck. By the way, neither of the 2 bedrooms are mine; I get a Coleman air mattress to sleep on! : ) The area is lacking in fresh snow. There’s lots of dirty, leftover snow from the blizzards of last December. Fresh snow is forecast for tomorrow, however. After unloading and unpacking, we stocked up with groceries for the week. We will be cooking most of our evening meals in lieu of eating out.

The last order of business was to check out the ski resorts. We stopped at Breckenridge first. I got checked in at their ski school and bought my lessons, equipment rental and ski lift tickets. My dad found a great deal online: 3 days of lessons, ski lift ticket, and equipment rental for $235, a HUGE savings over buying them separately. The slopes were populated with mostly locals that I’m told will be gone during the week. We stopped briefly at Keystone, where my parents went to ski school.. I took my first pictures of the mountains there.

Now I wait in anticipation for what is to come. I’m not sure what to think about learning to ski. My parents’ experience with skiing has been positive thus far so I’m optimistic about my learning experience. With a good night’s rest and breakfast tomorrow I should be ready to tackle ski school head-on.

Home Again...

I'm home again, after a white-knuckle drive through Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri. Snow followed us through the entire return trip. It was snowing as we left our condo at 5:46 a.m. MST and we either drove through a snowstorm or through snowy landscapes the remainder of the trip. I was dropped off at my house at 12:35 a.m. CST Saturday morning (or late Friday night). That's right, we did 18 hours on the road Friday. More on that in another post.

I had no daily wi-fi connection, so I wrote posts for each day as they happened, not in retrospect. My dad and I drove to a coffeehouse and internet-ed for a half-hour on Wednesday before they closed.

Things To Do In Denver...

not much tonight....blogging tonight from a Radisson hotel room in Denver, CO. We rolled out of my place at 6:16 central time this morning and pulled in here at around 6 p.m. mountain time tonight. We'll get up tomorrow and drive another hour west to a condo in Dillon, CO.

The drive through Kansas wasn't so bad. It was lots of rolling hills and farm fields. I did wave as we passed the exit to Ogden! We saw lots of snow along the way. Really odd was the several herds of antelope that were grazing within sight of the interstate near the KS/CO border. Evidently they're not supposed to be so close to civilization. This excited my dad, who was a biology teacher many moons ago.

Irony: the air temperature was 14 degrees at dawn in MO and it's in the 40s here... My traveling companions are really hypeing the scenery to come.

Odd Kansas fact....there is some town (I forget which one; they blurred together after a while) where you can see the world's biggest prairie dog and a six-legged steer. I regret we didn't have time to stop.

Posts will be sporadic this week (so what else is new?) as I encounter wi-fi access.

The vacation adventure begins tomorrow...

bright and early. I'll board a rented minivan with my parents and another couple and set out for Colorado. The proper clothing has been purchased, a new camera is packed and my iPod is charged up. My last load of laundry is drying as I write this. I made one last run to the Y tonight to, well, run! I hope I have prepared my body sufficiently. We'll be skiing, snowmobiling, and possibly snowshoeing during our trip. My dad is bringing his laptop so with any luck and a wi-fi connection I'll post pictures here while we're there.

That's all I really have to say for now. I could talk about the deep freeze that St. Louis has been enveloped in for the last few weeks. I could talk about the tragic end to Anna Nicole Smith's tragic life, but enough of my friends in the mass media are talking about it that I shall refrain....really, what could I possibly add to the conversation? : ) Just that, OK, everyone, Miss Smith was NOT this generation's Marilyn Monroe!

But I prefer to be giddy with anticipation of crossing the great state of Kansas tomorrow... : ) If we pass near Cooks In Kansas territory, I'll wave!

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On a side note, I'm glad to see the St. Louis Blues are playing such great hockey. The coaching change did the trick, pulling them out of their first-half funk. They shut out the big, bad Detroit Red Wings last night, the first time they've been shut out by anyone since 2004. The playoffs are still a long shot for the Bluenote, but their current third-place standing is a long way from where they were.

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Now, off to finish packing!

Gotta love that Calvin...

The saga of Barbaro the Horse....

is officially over. His medical team gave up on his aching feet and he was euthanized earlier this morning.

Can we, as a nation, officially get some sleep now? I know I've not slept well knowing that poor Barbaro was in such pain and rejoiced with my American brothers and sisters at every report of a miraculous save performed on the horse.

I have joined the Flickr revolution...

check me out at Flickr!

The colors of my guest bedroom...

My mom and her friend A. hit the white sales last week and now my guest room bed features some neat new colors! THANKS MOM!


Different lighting


This was one of the rooms I remodeled with refinished floors, new paint, trim, and doors last summer.

A few snaps from my trip to Malden...

token lost highway picture: U.S. Highway 60, westbound between Sikeston and Dexter, Saturday afternoon.
Yours truly, relaxing in Malden after my drive from St. Louis
Pine tree windbreak, across the road from my grandparents' home in Malden

Cold, like a popsicle...

That's how cold it is tonight, due to a cold pocket of Arctic air that swooped down into Missouri today. It's a one-day shot that's already on its way out of town, thankfully. The forecast calls for a cold week sort of like, well, late January.

I made a quick trip down to Malden this weekend to visit the home folks. The last time I'd seen my grandpa in person was in a hospital bed during his second stay at Barnes Hospital just before Christmas. It was great to see him relaxing in his favorite chair(s)! in the comfort of home. I'm officially jealous of the heated sun porch tacked onto the back of his house! I got an unexpected home-cooked spaghetti supper after I arrived; it was delicious! My cousin J ate with us.

My grandpa's health is pretty much in a good day/bad day / good week/bad week state. His plumbing is functioning well after the previous surgery and his stroke recovery is continuing. He continues to be plagued by bad blood, however. Not the hateful kind, but the clotting kind. It seems to be a complication of a long hospital stay and major surgery, we're told. He is taking all manner of blood thinners to keep things in just the right balance. I think that he'll eventually get through it, but it's no fun while it lasts! Keep praying, folks.

Startling headline of the week...

This headline on Stltoday.com caused me to do a double-take:

Sineta makes 'Idol'; Whitney Cook doesn't

say, kmom, try to keep us informed, OK? : )

LOL

-----EDIT-----

Yes, it occurred to me that Whitney's last name isn't Cook since her nuptials last summer, but I did a double take nonetheless! : )

Super Bowl Shuffle...

Here it is...in honor of the 2006 Chicago Bears' trip to the Super Bowl:

Chicago Bears Super Bowl Shuffle Video

Food Day!...

The new manager of my department at work started on Monday. To celebrate, we are having one of our famous "food days" today! The spread:




My contribution to the feast:


A Crock Pot of Taco Soup!

When we did some remodeling last year, we had a long countertop built and installed that would be our office prep area but could also double as a buffet line!

Sheriff Taylor vs. The Patriot Act...

Sheriff Andy Taylor wasn't made for these times...witness:

Now the Winter...

The Meramec River in Castlewood State Park, taken Wednesday afternoon. The sky was not great so I "photoshopped" the color a bit. As you might notice, the river is swollen, due to last weekend's heavy rain. I took the picture with my new camera.

Here's Looking At You...

As I mentioned in my last post, I was looking into buying a new digital camera for my upcoming ski trip. Well, here it is...



The Canon Digital Elph SD800 IS. It's TINY but shoots up to 7.1 megapixels! I'm having fun getting to know it.

Odds and Ends...

Another round of icy weather is bearing down on my locale this weekend...great. Another potential power outage. On my way to the gym tonight I noticed a brigade of electricity contractor trucks parked in the Kmart parking lot, poised to pounce on the first burst transformer!

I believe if the electricity so much as flickers for a fraction of a second during the ice storm, a riotous mob will march on AmerenUE's headquarters and burn it to the ground... : )

This would happen during my after hours on-call week. I got the pager and laptop on Wednesday and I haven't gotten a call yet. If the power goes out, that will likely change! : )

...............

still haven't made any progress on acquiring a pet pooch. I haven't had much luck with the stray rescue group I contacted a few weeks ago.

...............

I'm probably going to upgrade to a better camera for my ski trip. I've got my eye on this little point-and-shoot from Canon.

................

I officially have a new boss as of last Wednesday. We didn't have to look far for a good candidate. Our newsroom has employed their own technology director for the past six years and now he's moving over to our department. He applied for my deceased boss' position and was by far the best man for the job. I know him pretty well and think he'll fit in just fine.

................
My department's annual post-Christmas holidy party was held Wednesday night at Saratoga Lanes in suburban Maplewood. Saratoga Lanes is unique in that it's an upstairs bowling alley. My boss's widow and daughter attended, along with several retirees. The party was catered as usual by Hodak's Fried Chicken. I had two chicken breasts, potato salad and bread for dinner, and chocolate cake with strawberries for dessert. I smelled like an ashtray afterwards, but it was worth it.

He once was lost....

(this post references this situation.)

but now is found. Shawn Hornbeck, kidnapped over four years ago is found. In the same apartment where another kidnapped boy was found. The same sicko had them both in his apartment in a suburb of St. Louis.

How do you like that? The FBI raids a nondescript, quintessentially American suburban apartment, pretty sure that they'll find the missing kid they're looking for and another missing kid turns up in the same place! Can you imagine that? Unbelievable. You gotta believe sheriff Gary Toelke is feeling good tonight. Twice in a few months' time he's had to be all over the news because a bizarre kidnapping occurred in his jurisdiction. Both cases have ended favorably and with this one he got a bonus.

Predictably, the local news media has worked themselves into a frenzy over the "shocking" developments. The local television news teams are in their usual competition for lurid details. The newspaper has already published online statements from the owner of the kidnapper's apartment building and a representative of the local school district where the kids were found. Rather ominous is the apparent reality that young Mr. Hornbeck never made it to school during his captivity.

I can't fathom the mind of a person who would commit a crime like this. To just steal a kid off a backwoods country road one day and hold him prisoner. His mistake was trying to do the same crime twice--someone saw his getaway vehicle this time and that was his eventual undoing.

I also can't imagine what life must have been like for Shawn Hornbeck since his kidnapping. He never went to school but apparently was seen outside from time to time. Was he abused in any way? Was he brainwashed? Either way, he's in for some major re-adjustment in his life.

So, how many other people are out there with stolen kids? Makes me wonder...

Me...on skis?!!!!...

It looks like I'll be hitting the slopes at Breckenridge in February. I have never been skiing before so it will be a new experience! I'll be joining my parents and a couple from their church. I couldn't get away from work to go last year but this year is clear so I'm "in." Besides skiing, I'm told we'll be snowmobiling and snowshoeing. The photo opportunities will surely be plentiful. I will have to put in some extra time at the Y to get my legs in shape and buy some cold weather gear, though.

Birthday Dinner...

One of the unofficial traditions in our family is going out for dinner on birthdays. My mom had a birthday on Saturday and we celebrated last night. Red Moon was this year's destination. My bro and sis-in-law recommended it highly. It's "Asian Fusion" cuisine; Far Eastern food with French accents. I enjoyed a Teriyaki Ribeye steak on a bed of sweet potato fries. Topped off with vanilla ice cream and shortbread cookies, it was an enjoyable dining experience.

New Year's Day Hike

I did my New Year's Eve hike on New Year's Day this year. The Chubb Trail access at Lone Elk Park was the starting point for my annual trek into the Meramec River valley. The weather was cool, with a nice breeze at my back. My destination was a large prairie grassland area near the river. I hiked its perimeter from south to north this time. Once again I was alone in the wide open space and I enjoyed the stillness.

(Spooky: My bro and sis-in-law also showed up to hike, an hour after I left, at the same place, except they hiked within the park itself.)

Happy 2007...

I hope 2007 has started off well for all my readers!

New Year's Eve was spent with friends at a house party. I tried, in vain, to set off some six-year-old leftover packs of Black Cat firecrackers, much to the amusement of onlookers. Just my luck - a stiff breeze kicked up and blew out the fuses. I think they were 'duds' because others from the same purchase did the same thing six years ago. Not to worry, the remaining ordnance was tossed out with today's garbage.

Friday night; late...

I strapped on my new iPod for my workout at the Y tonight. It was a new experience! Well, not entirely. During the second semester of my year at NMSU/Truman State, I participated in a lab research study. Specifically, a student majoring in Human Performance and Physiology wanted to study the effect of music on a person's workout. So, I submitted my preference (jazz) and strapped on the music and performance measuring gear for an hour twice a week. I don't remember what effect it had, if any, but it got me out of gym class so I was happy.

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We lost Gerald Ford and James Brown this week. Ironic that their deaths happened so close together. I remember the last time this happened, in 2004 when Ronald Reagan and Ray Charles expired within a week or so of each other. I was at a BR549 concert with my brother right after they died; the lead singer remarked that "we lost a great American this week....R-R-R-R-Ray Charles!" That led into a cover of "Crying Time." ROFL!!!

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My grandpa is doing a little better. He's been fighting blood clots for a few weeks. The blood thinners he's on make him dizzy. Hopefully they'll clear up soon.

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One of the local animal rescue groups has a "Rent-A-Pet" program. Sort of like a "try before you buy"--sounds like a good deal to me. I submitted an application but have not heard back from them. They'll be at a local Petsmart store tomorrow so I'm going to go by and inquire.

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I received a friendly letter from my employer's corporate parent the other day. The letter informed me that as of January 1, 2007 I will not be receiving medical benefits after I retire. Nice timing, folks. Love to get that kind of news during the holiday season. Oh well, I always say that by the time I get old, there'll be a cure for it.

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Mizzou managed to lose the Sun Bowl game to Oregon State this afternoon. They went up 38-31 late in the 4th quarter, but gave up a long punt return on the ensuing kickoff. Great. The one play they steal from the St. Louis Rams' play book and it's that one! : ) That led to an OSU touchdown and subsequent 2-point conversion to win by 1 point. Ugh.

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Random thought - Pat Metheny's song "The Truth Will Always Be" from his "Secret Story" album captures the heartbreak of a failed romance better than anything I've ever heard.

wow, that was a long sentence.

Goodnight.

New widget.in the sidebar...

I added a little widget in my sidebar, underneath the Flickr photo badge. It keeps track of what I listen to on iTunes at home and work. It works with a media player plug-in called Audioscrobbler and publishes through Last.fm

Matlock Family Christmas Day Spectacular...

My mother is an extraordinary woman. She's spent most of the past 3 months helping to care for my ailing Papaw, logging many hospital trips and highway miles between St. Louis and Malden. Just last week she had to put him back in the hospital for a couple of days then get him back home in time for Christmas, not returning until Saturday evening. Still she wanted to host the annual Christmas Day dinner for my Dad's family, albeit with dinner help from the attendees.

And the day went very well. We had sixteen for dinner and the food was great. My dad smoked two turkeys and a ham, which were sumptuous. I contributed 4 sodas and a chocolate-cherry cake from McArthur's Bakery. Everyone had a good time talking and playing with the two small children who came and added spice to the festivities! We even got a group together for a game of Catch Phrase. This provided much hilarity.

It was everything a Christmas Day should be.

The Haul...

As usual, Santa (aka Mr. C) was too nice to me. Besides the aforementioned iPod, I, my bro, and sis-in-law all received a bounty of cool gifts from the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. Witness:

and that's just what I got. My bro and sis-in-law got things like a yo-yo, blooming flower on a stick, and an arcade-style baseball game. All I can figure is Santa got all nostalgic for his childhood and wished some of it on us. The three of us loved these gifts! : )

Yes, I now own a harmonica. I am now all set to join the ranks of harp players like Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, and Barney Fife! Yes, Barney Fife. Bonus points if you can remember the episode where Barney whips out his harp.

A real Beaver Cleaver Christmas...wow!

*Teaser* Christmas Day 2006 post...

Look what I got for Christmas:


Isn't it beautiful? It's the 30gb video iPod! Santa heard me mention it, but I would've been happy with just the Nano model... a nice surprise.

More tomorrow...

Our new digital age...

This "Lucky Cow" comic gave me a chuckle today. I work in tech support for a large daily newspaper and the issue of "new media" vs. "traditional media" is a hot topic on our editors' agenda. We recently hired an "online photo editor" to work for our online news department, for example. This person works with picture selection and deployment of electronic slide shows for our web site. and Will the next generation gaze in wonder at a hard-copy newspaper in a museum years from now?

You might not be who you think you are...

I was perusing Tom Timmerman's "Hit & Run" column in today's Post-Dispatch over breakfast this morning. This little nugget near the end caught my eye:

"— An Indian runner who won a silver medal in the women's 800 meters at the Asian Games was stripped of her medal after failing a gender test. The test revealed she had more Y chromosomes than are allowed. Frankly, I didn't know there was a limit.

— Talk about a tough job. How do you break the news to someone that a test showed she isn't a woman?"

A gender test? A gender test? Whoever heard of such a thing?

(insert gratuitous Michael Jackson joke here)

So, folks, it may be a good idea to go and get tested; you may not be who you've always thought you were...

Family Feud Blooper...

I ran across this last week - if you want to see Richard Dawson absolutely LOSE IT, check this out:

Not So Fast Money...

Sports follies...

As I previously stated, it's a good thing the Cardianls won the World Series. Our fall/winter pro sports franchises are flopping.

The 6-8 Rams did manage to pummel the hapless Raiders yesterday. It's pretty bad when the best chant you can muster is "our team beat the %#$%# out of a team that's actually worse than we are" Their odd reality is that they are still hanging on to a wild-card spot in the playoffs by a thread! That's how whacked-out the NFC is this season. The recently-deceased Lamar Hunt is doing the watusi in his grave already.

Our intrepid hockey Blue-noters find themselves in last place in their division. Which is exactly where they were this time last year! A new ownership regime hasn't made much of a difference. They finally gave poor Mike Kitchen the ax last week and predictably hired a crack-the-whip coach as his replacement. The damage done by the Laurie ownership will be felt for quite a while, folks.

Weird television - slightly rant-ish...

I was surfing the channels last night and noticed that G4, the "video game network" is now showing episodes of "COPS" during an hour of prime time. Its lack of connection to video games aside, I was only annoyed because it replaced the second daily episode of "Star Trek The Next Generation" that I normally tuned in to. Why the Sci-Fi channel never picked up STTNG is beyond me but it certainly doesn't belong on a video game TV network. It's all about the demographics and the audience you're targeting, folks.

Speaking (or blogging?) of weird television, why is the TLC channel airing shows about freaks of nature? Case in point: last evening they aired shows about conjoined, TWO-HEADED teenage girls and a toddler with primordial dwarfism. Previously, I noticed they have aired a British show about a kid whose skin falls off. There is some inspirational value to these shows but mostly, it smacks of exploitation! They likely air it under the guise of "TLC is THE LEARNING CHANNEL," but I think it's distasteful and appeals to our base instincts, as much of television does today. Am I way off base here or is there something that I'm missing? Thoughts?*

"SO IF IT OFFENDS YOU, DON'T WATCH IT!!," protests the network executive.

yeah, but how about not putting it out there in the first place?

*I'm guilty of watching much of the two programs, I admit. But only to judge their content! And I am also guilty of imagining what it would be like to be a cop and pull over a car that those two-headed girls are driving. Who would you give the ticket to? Would it be two tickets for them? Would the cop faint dead away at the sight of them? : )

One week and counting...

How is it already December 18th? I looked away for just a second, and here it is! The Christmas season has flown by this year, for some reason. Strange, very strange. My Christmas cards did get into the mail this morning, however. My Christmas shopping has NOT EVEN BEEN STARTED! : )

Let's do the usual recap...

Friday night was the premiere performance of the resurrected "Living Christmas Tree" at my parents' church. The program was divided into two halves - one distinctly secular and the other distinctly religious. The tree made its proper debut in the second half. It was decked out spectacularly, as the music director is a florist during the week. Very glitzy, indeed, with computer-controlled lights illuminating lush green garland. There wasn't enough room for all the singers, with one group of black-clad choristers standing off to the side in ensemble fashion. The program was certainly the most ambitious production ever done at the church and it came off nicely. My bro and sis-in-law also came down to see it with me and my mom. We all went out for a late supper at the local St. Louis Bread Company afterwards.

Saturday, I attended a holiday luncheon for the volunteers at the church service where I serve on Sundays. The lead pastor of the service and his wife gave it at their home. The eats and fellowship were great! That night I dropped in on my friend K's birthday party at her home. There was an interesting book on her coffee table, "Horrifically Bad Album Covers," which covers some of the worst of the old LP album covers. Great for many laughs at parties! Looks like it's exclusive to Barnes and Noble, though.

Yesterday, I crashed at home after church and lunch at Applebees. I got my Christmas cards done and did chores.

My mom and dad are hosting the annual Matlock Family Christmas Day Spectacular at their house this again this year. After all the time and energy they spent running around caring for my grandpa this fall, I'd have not been surprised if they opted out this year. It will happen, albeit with dinner contributions from the attendees, I suspect.

Speaking of my grandpa, he continues to recover. He got a good post-surgical report last week. My mom will continue to work with him part-time, supplanting the other home-based therapy he is already receiving.

And I wish to state for the record that any Christmas gifts I receive will pale in comparison to the gift of my grandpa's presence this year. The reality that he's alive and well enough to be home for Christmas is enough.

It helps to read the fine print...

OK, so my *free* copy of the TaxCut software actually isn't so free after all. I started installing it tonight and it turns out that, yes, the software is on the CD but....

.....have your credit or debit card ready to cover the $29.95 to unlock it from the CD. Yep, all they've done here is save me a trip to Best Buy to purchase it.

What your daddy told you is true, folks; if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

The moblog is history...

My moblog at Textamerica.com is history. They are going fee-based and leaving free users out in the cold at the end of the year so I downloaded my images and deleted everything. Now, should I cancel the internet service on my phone?

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On an unrelated note, it was a personal thrill to be back on stage at Powell Hall last night. Even though the "official" symphony orchestra wasn't in residence, it was still fun. I'd not heard the guest soloists, American tenor Hugh Smith and Icelandic soprano Diddú, sing before. They and the Compton Heights Band performed most excellently!

I'm not ready to think about tax preparation!...

but the fine folks at H&R Block TaxCut software apparently think I am. They sent me a *free* copy of the Premium version of the Federal AND State editions for the 2006 tax year. What did I do to deserve that? : ) It is the software I have used for the past several years, so I'll certainly take it but why me and why now? Was there a class-action settlement that I'm part of? Curious!

He's Gone Away...

from hospitals, that is...my grandpa is home in Malden as I write this. He left Barnes-Jewish Hospital on Friday with my parents for the trip home. After eight long weeks in two different hospitals, he is finally back among familiarity. He'll return to St. Louis on Wednesday for follow-up exams. His stroke recovery will be continued with home-based therapy. He's already beginning to walk pretty well (with the aid of a walker) and my mom's experience as a reading teacher will greatly help his speech and cognitive recovery. Thanks to all who prayed. We got Papaw home for Christmas and that's a huge answer to prayer.

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The Amabassadors of Harmony are putting on another great series of Christmas shows this year. I caught the first performance last night. They managed to top last year, somehow and I shook my head with amazement!

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my community chorus is also in full swing with our Christmas performances. We sang for members of the Missouri Botanical Gardens today and will do our usual concert at St. Anthony's church tomorrow afternoon. Tuesday we're backing up the Compton Heights Concert Band for their annual Christmas shows at Powell Symphony Hall. After that, we'll breathe! : )

My Celebrity Look-Alikes

Happy Birthday to my blog!...

I totally forgot to acknowledge the one-year birthday for this little blog, on December 2. I started this thing shortly after Cooks In Kansas was born. It's been fun, folks - thanks to all who have read and commented!

My grandpa's out of surgery...

and resting *somewhat* comfortably tonight. Everything apparently went as planned and he survived the ordeal in good shape. There will be the usual round of post-surgical pathology but all is well for now. Thanks for praying!

An old tradition revived...

Back in the day, my family's church in Malden, MO put on a pretty cool Christmas show. It involved putting singers inside a "living" Christmas tree for an unusual twist on the traditional Christmas cantata. The church stopped doing the show many years ago and the tree's pieces sat in a storage locker outside of town gathering dust.

Until this year, that is. My dad convinced the music minister to revive the show at their church. $1 later, the tree was sold. Read about it here:

Trim the Tree--With Singers!

I can't wait to see it come alive again!

Prayer request...

If you're so inclined, please say a little prayer for my grandpa today - he's having fairly major surgery this afternoon. The move to Barnes has paid off with a certain diagnosis of the source of his problem and the surgery is unfortunately necessary.

The lights are on...

at my place. I returned from my parents' house this morning and found that power had been restored. I made a beeline for the thermostat and switched the heat on. The house is nice and warm as I type this.

For all the hassles the storm created, it left behind some majestically pretty winter scenes. The St. Louis area got mostly ice and a little snow so all the trees got a beautiful coating of ice that glistened in the sunlight today. Some trees didn't fare so well but my oak trees stood up to the ice just fine. That's why they're OAK trees. The Bradford Pear tree that formerly stood in my front yard would have gone down, though.

Woke up this morning...

...at 5 a.m. to find that the air in my house was quite...nippy. Yep, yesterday's ice storm knocked out power to my house, so once again I find myself at the mercy of the local power conglomerate. :) Thank goodness for my gas water heater, which delivered hot water for my shower. Hopefully this won't be an instant replay of July's prolonged power outage!

I must chuckle, however, at the fact that the temperature hovered near 70 degrees for nearly a week then in the space of 24 hours bottomed out like my voice did between the 8th and 9th grades. Spring one day, winter the next. Ah, Missouri!

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My grandpa was moved up to Barnes-Jewish hospital on Wednesday. His stroke recovery is right on track but his other problem is still a problem. The doctor treating him in Cape Girardeau couldn't do any more for him so we moved him to get treatment from some of the world's best doctors. We remain optimistic that he'll be home for Christmas. Fortunately, my brother and sis-in-law live near the hospital so they provided lodging to my mom and grandma last night during the ice storm.

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It's a rather strange experience, attending your boss' funeral visitation. I hope none of my readers ever have to do it. It was gut-wrenching, seeing him laid out in a casket on Tuesday night. I'd last seen him on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. He was our department's heart and soul and our team feels a distinct emptiness now that he's gone. A "Dilbert" manager he was not, tough but fair. A little too "chummy" with us, frankly, but everyone loved working for him and coming to work in his department. I volunteered to stay behind and keep things running while everyone else attended his funeral; it was my final tribute to him. Gonna miss ya, RB.

The falling leaves / shaken on a sunday night...

***WARNING: bad haiku ahead***

The falling leaves
drift by my window
and make a crunchy carpet

I bagged *28* bags of leaves just from my back yard on Saturday. I reckon I'll do 10 or 12 more before the end of the year.

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I rented "Return To Me" on Saturday night. Did any of my readers see it? Not a bad little movie. It's a romantic comedy/borderline chick flick.

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So I was performing the Vivaldi "Gloria" last night with my community chorus when I got paged to call into work. I shut off the vibrate, then it went off twice more. (This had NEVER happened before.) The message said to call in ASAP so I left the stage at the start of the next solo movement. I work in IT for a newspaper so it wasn't entirely unexpected. I raced out to my car and dialed in.

What was unexpected was the news that my manager had suffered a fatal heart attack while at home. He was only 50 years old and left a wife and 3 young adult children. As you might imagine, this has left me and my co-workers stunned. This will be a difficult week and will certainly mean changes for our department as we come to grips with this loss. He was a good manager to work for and I enjoyed knowing him. He must have enjoyed me too, since I received a service award last month and he wrote part of the nomination. : )

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Gene Eugene's words are wise and true: 'hang out with your loved ones while they're still around...'

Thanksgiving, done differently...

I'm safely home now after a decidedly different, special Thanksgiving day today. My grandpa is still in the hospital in Cape Girardeau, so I ate my Thanksgiving meal in the hospital! :) Really, where else would I have been? He couldn't come to dinner, so the dinner came to him! He was moved to an inpatient rehabilitation area last week and the area has a nice big sunroom with a kitchenette. My dad smoker-ed his usual turkey and my mom whipped up a few other Thanksgiving essentials, packed up a couple of coolers and off we went! With other attendees bringing various and sundry food items, we had quite a feast. There were 12 people, including my grandpa in attendance. It was just like having the feast at somebody's house, really. I looked around while we were eating and saw my wheelchaired grandpa sitting in his usual place at the head of the table, with his twin brother on his right and his wife on his left; it was a very comforting scene.

He continues to progress rapidly in his recovery from the stroke, but the original problem he was in the hospital for prior to that event, is still a problem. If he can get that cleared up, he should be home for Christmas.

Driving home, I passed my local Circuit City and Best Buy stores. Both stores had intrepid shoppers camped out, waiting for the opening bell of the Christmas shopping season. Someone please stage an intervention with me if I'm ever that obsessed!

Monday night and all is well...

Let's play catch up...

The GOP got what was unfortunately coming to them at the polls last week. It was like any punishment; it hurts but is ultimately beneficial. My Republican state representative bucked the trend and retained his seat in a tough race. I was disappointed to see Jim Talent lose, but his campaign tactics did him in. His attack ads set the wrong tone and I don't they reflected the true character of the man. He listened to the wrong people and it cost him. I'm not a McCaskill fan ,but I trust she won't embarass us.

My grandpa continues to recover from his stroke. He's made great progress in the three weeks since it happened. He's still in SEMO Hospital in Cape Girardeau but I'm hoping optimistically that he'll be out by Thanksgiving. He faces a long rehab and recovery but he will get back to almost normal in time. He has some other lingering ailments so keep him in your thoughts and prayers, if you're so inclined. The prayers of many people are carrying him (and us) through this time.

The Cardinals' world series hangover is almost a memory now. It was fun (and profitable) while it lasted! We're now facing a long winter of Rams and Blues games, unfortunately. The Rams are finidng ways to lose games under the new coaching regime just as they did with the old one. The Blues are in a rebuilding phase after being stripped down and sold last summer. This means they're not really good either. Is it February yet?

I experimented with the WordPress blog site today. It didn't quite meet my expectations and I deleted the blog I created. As spotty as the Blogspot blog site is, it's still more versatile and fun to use.

Guess My Costume!...

I attended 2 Halloween costume parties this year - can you guess my costume? I thought I was being clever but it backfired because it took everyone a minute or two to guess what I was! : )

The First One!...

My very first podcast is live on the Internet! Check it out:

http://mytoonz.podshow.com

I'm pleased with it, as a first attempt! : )

I Am a "Rough Terrain Forklift Operator"...

at least, as of tonight that's what my military job title might be! : ) My dad gave me that title after I helped him with a landscaping project today. He's building a retaining wall behind the family home in Festus. We never really had a backyard, as our lot sloped steeply downward into some woods. It was a challenge to mow in the summertime! : ) For years a major landscape project has been talked about but never came to fruition until recently. The solution is to build a retaining wall out of 2,300 pound concrete blocks and add some fill dirt and grass to level it off. The first 20 blocks were delivered today and my dad rented a jumbo forklift machine to move them down the hill and into place. I'm always a little leery about operating heavy equipment, but this experience was positive! Once I got the hang of driving it, and figured out it wouldn't roll over with me in it, it was actually kind of fun! : ) It will take about 3 more loads of blocks to do the whole job, he estimates.

Does anyone else wish the election happened last week? I'm beyond sick of all the attack ads currently polluting my television and radio stations.

I had a nice leisurely week off from work this week. I drove to Cape Girardeau to visit my grandfather in the hospital on Tuesday and Thursday, got in some great workouts and then helped my dad all day today. Tomorrow I'll rake leaves and clean up my yard. Tomorrow night is another costume party! I'll likely recycle the costume I wore last Saturday night.

Podcast update...

Hopefully you haven't been waiting with baited breath for my podcasting debut... : ) I spent a couple of hours tonight trying to put one together. Talking into a microphone is harder than I thought it would be. :) After attempting about 50 takes, I'm calling it a night. I'll try again tomorrow night.