Late Night Tuesday...

Well....I received an electronic communiqué from one of my regular readers tonight, reminding me that I'd not written in a while.  Over 7 days, in fact.  Here's the latest from the 'burbs...

.... I've been to 2 Cardinals games on my season ticket package so far and the Birds have won both of them.  I took my Dad to the first one and I borrowed my brother from his wife and adorable daughter last night to sit through a win in the cold rain showers.  His life is considerably hectic these days, what with tying up loose ends with the sale of the current house and trying to prepare to move into a new one soon.  I was glad to be able to take him last night.

....enjoyed another fellowship lunch hosted by my friend R. after church on Sunday.  This was the third one in as many months and her cooking once again did not disappoint.  I'm talking about pork tenderloins in apricot glaze and cajun rub  I enjoyed catching up with friends that I'd not seen in a while.   She sent me home with some leftover gooey butter cake...yummy!

...my parents just returned safely from another sailing adventure in the BVI with 3 other couples that they invited along.  Bad weather cancelled their flight from Puerto Rico last night so they didn't get back until this afternoon.

...Several friends of mine are either expecting children or getting married within the next few months.  Did I mention that I'll be an uncle again by September?

...loved Rick Hummel's story in today's P-D sports section on Whitey Herzog's recent trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame.  The legendary Cardinals manager of years past is entering the Hall this summer.  I chuckled at this bit:  

Asked if he had any lineup cards that might have been items for the archives, Herzog said he wasn't one for saving lineup cards like current Cardinals manager Tony La Russa does.
 
"I used to tear them up and throw them in the trash can," Herzog said. But he saved one, from the last game Pete Rose managed for the Cincinnati Reds before Rose was suspended. [for betting on baseball games]
 
"We went out to the plate (for the umpires' conference) that night, and here comes Pete," Herzog said. "He says, 'We're going to kick your butt tonight,' and I said, 'Want to bet?' He said, 'Don't say that.'

HA!

...So I finally received the iTunes gift card from my credit card rewards program after 6 weeks and now I can't remember all the songs I was waiting to purchase with it!  Note to self:  write these things down.

...The recent runaway volcanic ash cloud over Europe affected the travel plans of a couple of pastors from my church..  They and some other folks from my church were in Berlin to meet with young church planters who are daring to re-start the flame of the Gospel in Germany.  Our church folks were scheduled to leave just as the ash cloud grounded all flights and were forced to spend an extra four days in country.   They arrived back home safely last Thursday.

...So is Sam Bradford the new face of the Rams?  Bryan Burwell anointed him as such in his column in the P-D today.  Way too early to predict anything about his future but he has great potential,  apparently.  All I know is they'd better protect him better than they did Warner and Bulger.  Both left here having taken terrible beatings during their respective tenures.

...I've actually been doing some reading lately.  I enjoyed Paul Shaffer's new autobiography and am now devouring Lars Anderson's tale of Red Grange and his exploits in the fledgling National Football League of the 1920s.

Thirty-Six...

That was the number of the birthday I celebrated this weekend.  Saturday was the official day but it was officially observed today.  I spent Saturday pretty much as I would any other weekend day.  I took Chili-dog for a walk in the morning, ate breakfast, cut the grass, indulged in my favorite lunch from McAlister's Deli, then pulled out my patio furniture and placed it on my deck.  Later I drove out west to explore the newly-opened Rock Hollow Trail that branches north from the Al Foster Trail, which I blogged about recently.  Rock Hollow goes up, up, up, folks.  It was a cool, mid-60s day with a slight breeze and my legs weren't quite prepared to pedal up the ascent.  I made it up about 3/4 of the way before giving up and coasting back down.  One thing I discovered, though; the stillness.  The quietness.  Almost to the point of creepiness.  I stopped and just listened to the solitude, surrounded by sunlit trees.  If one wanted to get away from it all and just think or get alone with God, that would be the place to go.

Today, I got a nice birthday lunch and family time at the parents' house.  My mom fixed her famous potato salad (famous to me, at least!) and my favorite strawberry cake for dessert.

One unwelcome aspect to this weekend was the sudden allergy attack that hit me.  I felt out-of-sorts pretty much all day Saturday and overnight into Sunday.  Here's hoping it leaves me and that right quickly.

I received a 10-game Cardinals season ticket package for Christmas and my first game was last Wednesday night.  I took my dad and we enjoyed a win over the Astros.  I was not lucky enough to be in attendance at the 20-inning debacle they engaged in with the Mets yesterday.  My friend R. was there on one of her season ticket days with three of our mutual friends from church and they stayed for the entire 6 hrs, 53 minutes of fun.

That Dog!!!...

...grievously injured my sliding screen door last evening.  I forgot and left her inside while I was outside with nothing but the screen between her and the outside world.  The evidence:

All I Ever Wanted...

apologies to The Go-Gos but I had a week of vacation last week.  Didn't go any place special, just stayed around and relaxed.  The highlights:

I managed a day out with a certain special niece and special parents on Tuesday.  Had my car in the shop for an (expensive!) repair all day on Thursday and spent that day cleaning up my back yard after the long winter.  The weather was gor-geous all week long so I tried to be outside as much as possible.  On Friday I spent most of the afternoon on a great bike ride.  Today I went to church, had lunch with my friend R and joined her for a few laps (walking) around Fenton City Park a couple of hours later.  I came home afterward and walked Chili-dog around the neighborhood.  I am tired tonight.

The STL Cardinals got the season off to a 5-2 start, winning 4 of 6 games on the road.  The offense is as explosive as everyone had hoped but the bullpen will ultimately make winning the NL Central division tougher than it should be, I think.  I received  a 10-game series of season tickets for this season as a Christmas gift and the first of the games is this Wednesday night.  I am looking forward to it!

A few pictures from my bike ride on Thursday afternoon:

On Holy Week 2010...

I ran across a neat passage of scripture from Job 33 today in my morning devotional (the updated edition of Spurgeon's "Morning By Morning" by Jim Reimann - LOVE IT).  The devotions have been Easter-oriented since last week.  To put it in context, we must go back to Job 32:

 ^1-5 Job's three friends now fell silent. They were talked out, stymied because Job wouldn't budge an inch—wouldn't admit to an ounce of guilt. Then Elihu lost his temper. He blazed out in anger against Job for pitting his righteousness against God's. He was also angry with the three friends because they had neither come up with an answer nor proved Job wrong. Elihu had waited with Job while they spoke because they were all older than he. But when he saw that the three other men had exhausted their arguments, he exploded with pent-up anger. (The Message)

(aside:  I didn't previously realize there was a guy named Elihu in the story of Job.  I think it's cool that even though he was really ticked off at all these guys, he didn't fly off the handle immediately.   He respected his elders and their supposed wisdom, and THEN flew off the handle.)

He then proceeds to rant and rave for many verses but by the end of chapter 33 his tone changes:

²³ "Yet if there is an angel on his side
       as a mediator, one out of a thousand,
       to tell a man what is right for him,

 ²⁴ to be gracious to him and say,
       'Spare him from going down to the pit ^[f] ;
       I have found a ransom for him'-

 ²⁵ then his flesh is renewed like a child's;
       it is restored as in the days of his youth.

 ²⁶ He prays to God and finds favor with him,
       he sees God's face and shouts for joy;
       he is restored by God to his righteous state.

 ²⁷ Then he comes to men and says,
       'I sinned, and perverted what was right,
       but I did not get what I deserved.

 ²⁸ He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit, ^[g]
       and I will live to enjoy the light.'

 ²⁹ "God does all these things to a man—
       twice, even three times-

 ³⁰ to turn back his soul from the pit, ^[h]
       that the light of life may shine on him. (NIV)

  

Eugene Peterson paraphrases it nicely: 

^23-25 "But even then an angel could come,

   a champion—there are thousands of them!—

   to take up your cause,

A messenger who would mercifully intervene,

   canceling the death sentence with the words:

   'I've come up with the ransom!'

Before you know it, you're healed,

   the very picture of health!

 ^26-28 "Or, you may fall on your knees and pray—to God's delight!

   You'll see God's smile and celebrate,

   finding yourself set right with God.

You'll sing God's praises to everyone you meet,

   testifying, 'I messed up my life—

   and let me tell you, it wasn't worth it.

But God stepped in and saved me from certain death.

   I'm alive again! Once more I see the light!'

 ^29-30 "This is the way God works.

   Over and over again

He pulls our souls back from certain destruction

   so we'll see the light—and live in the light!  (The Message)

Isn't that neat?  A mediator who provides our ransom.  So we can 'live to enjoy the light.'  We all know how great it is to wake up to a sunny morning after days of cloudy skies, right?  On our own, our lives are destined for 'the pit' - Satan is cool with that and gladly helps us along.  But merciful God has provided a ransom that gets us out of that awful existence.  A decidedly high-cost ransom.  We don't deserve it, but he did it anyway, because he wants us to live in and enjoy HIS light, 'yesterday, today, and forever' (Hebrews 13:8).

PSbtS!!!...

Hey kids! Time for another edition of Potentially Shamed By The Shuffle!!

let's turn on the ol' iPod shuffle and see what comes up!

1)  "Easy" - The Commodores - love Lionel Richie's vocals and the sweet guitar solo in the middle.

2)  "Ridin' That Midnight Train" - Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Ricky Skaggs - hardcore, traditional bluegrass.

3)  "Song From Holland" - The Innocence Mission - simple, plaintive ballad sung sweetly by Karen Peris.

4)  "Street Life" - Herb Alpert - from the same album that produced "Rise" comes this slice of sweet disco soul.

5)  "All Things Must Pass" - George Harrison - thanks to KDHX radio for turning me on to this classic tune.

6)  "Yearning" - Basia - I think I'm shamed here!  I am a closet Basia fan and love this track from her live album "Basia on Broadway" - Jay Beckenstein (Spyro Gyra) adds a sweet sax solo to the middle of the track.

7)  "Todo que voce podia ser" - Milton Nascimento - some nice Brazilian jazz-pop from the early 1970s.

8)  "After The Love Has Gone" - David Benoit and Russ Freeman - nice cover of this Earth, Wind & Fire classic.

9)  "Alleluia" - Glad - great version of this beloved Randall Thompson choral anthem.

10)  "She" - Elvis Costello - the theme song from the film "Notting Hill" - what can I say, I'm a sucker for a great love ballad.  Elvis is in great voice on this number.

March Madness!!!!!!!...

...am enjoying the annual madness that is the annual NCAA D-1 basketball tournament.  I do not fill out any brackets and have no desire to do so, but I do enjoy watching the upsets.  Already several traditional "powers" and/or presumed favorites to win it all have fallen by the wayside.  Love it when the smaller schools who are hungry and just happy to be there pull one out over the big boys.  Case in point:  Northern Iowa knocking off Kansas last night.  Northern Iowa, out of the "mid-major" Missouri Valley Conference, just won their conference tournament here in St. Louis two weeks ago and will return for their 'Sweet 16' regional next weekend.  Bill Self's boys, um, will not.  Mizzou, alas, will not be going any further after losing to West Virginia.  They hung in there for most of the game but ran out of steam towards the end.  Next year!

 

...spent an enjoyable day with my parents and niece Lydia yesterday.  My parents kept Lydia overnight Friday night and all day yesterday while her parents tended to the process of preparing their house for sale.  (speaking of which, if you know of anyone looking to buy a 5-year old townhouse in a relatively safe part of St. Louis city, let me know!)  Love that Lydia!  She is 2 years old now and has turned up the cuteness factor quite a bit.  A happy, silly, normal toddler is she.  I got out with Chili-dog late in the afternoon out to West City Park in Festus, down the hill from my parents' house.  West City has expanded quite a bit since I've moved away and I never got over to see what all was there.  The city really did a great job with creating trails and open space that are great for walking dogs and their humans.

 ...had some great fellowship time over lunch with some friends from church at our friend R's house.  She's a great cook and hostess who has the gift of hospitality and enjoys using it.  She first hosted about a month ago and served Mexican food.  Today was Italian, with two varieties of pasta, along with salad and bread.  Warm peach cobbler and chocolate-toffee brownies came afterwards.  We all watched a good bit of the Mizzou basketball game on the tube before heading home.

...finally, a shout-out to our own Washington University Lady Bears, who won the NCAA D-III basketball championship this weekend in Bloomington, IL.  Smart kids who can shoot hoops....love it!)

A Stellar Night Of Jazz...

 ...one month ago was the last post to this little blog.  Let's blow the dust off with yet another performing arts review!

I was privileged to be at the Sheldon last night for a performance by the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by the ubiquitous and irrepressible force of jazz nature, Wynton Marsalis.  The concert was for the Sheldon's annual Gala fundraiser and for $500 I could have partaken in dinner, dancing, VIP parking, and other benefits but I chose a $65 seat in the balcony.  Dead center, front row of the balcony, thank you very much.  I took advantage of a Metrotix pre-sale for this event last month and luckily, the Metrotix computer smiled on me.  When I say 'balcony,' it helps to point out that the Sheldon is a small concert hall and a balcony seat still puts one in a very good viewing position.

As I said, Wynton Marsalis leads the JALC Orchestra as their musical director and emcee.  He handles both jobs with great aplomb, as evidenced by the group's live show.  The Orchestra is made up of some of the best and brightest jazz players on the New York City jazz scene.  Marsalis noted that he'd known some of the members since they were teenaged music students of his (at Juilliard, I think).

They did an all-Count Basie set of music, save for an opening set of kiddie nursery rhymes, a Mr. Rogers number (I Like To Take My Time) and Kermit the Frog (It's Not Easy Being Green).  Trombonist Vincent Gardiner showed off his vocal chops on the latter number.  All were creatively arranged by the various band members.

The Basie material swung effortlessly, as the band has been performing it in recent concerts this year.  Marsalis noted that Basie music is divided into "Old Testament and New Testament," depending on whether the classic or new edition of the Basie band performed it.  The band was relaxed yet professional throughout the show and all the solos were top-notch.

The encore was positively sublime - the band's senior (read: oldest) member (the most soulful thing to ever come out of Scotland, according to Wynton Marsalis) played the bass clarinet(!) on a duet with the young pianist on Duke Ellington's "A Single Petal Of A Rose" - whoever was operating the stage lights chose to bathe the duo in an amber spotlight...chills!

 

One lasting impression I took from the night was of the expert musicianship of the players.  Several of them "doubled" on other instruments than their chosen one, i.e. the saxophone players also played a flute, clarinet, or piccolo whenever the music called for it.  The saxophone is a hard enough instrument to learn, but to tackle the other reed instruments is really admirable.  My jazz fan's hat is off to them.

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.)

Weekend Edition...

....enjoyed a nice full weekend.

- Friday night, I met my brother at the annual auto show at The Ed/America's Center. It always falls right around his birthday so it's something of a birthday tradition for him. We had a good time browsing the cars on display. He has McMillian blood so he knows a thing or two about cars and for that I was grateful. I'm not looking to buy anytime soon but it was nice to hear his opinions about what I might buy in the future. I believe he was disappointed by the conspicuous absence of higher-end cars like Infiniti, BMW, and Mercedes Benz. That was a telling reminder of the current state of economic affairs in our country.

- My mom called me early Saturday morning to invite me to The Magic House with her and
granddaughter/niece Lydia. My dad was unfortunately otherwise occupied so he couldn't come. I gladly accepted and the three of us set off from Lydia's house. We spent the morning there and then returned after lunch just before naptime! The three of us had a great time!

Yes, that's a diaper bag slung over my shoulder....boy did that feel odd!

This is what she did when I asked her to smile as we were on our way to eat lunch. Almost too adorable for words! My dad got her that awesome hat.

- Saturday night I participated in the 9th annual St. Louis Spikes trivia night. The Spikes are a semi-pro baseball team that an acquaintance of mine plays on. My team of trivia wonks hung in there in second place for most of the evening before fading at the end. The questions were a bit on the "out there" side. There was an entire category on income tax, for pete's sake! I did learn that babies are born without kneecaps (which I suppose makes them least likely to suffer a mob hit!) and that Honest Abe Lincoln started up this whole income tax thing to pay for, you guessed it, a war!! The little skirmish known as the Civil War. I am doing another trivia night with some of the same people next Saturday night so we get a chance to redeem ourselves.

Interesting Observation...

noted by the P-D's Bernie Miklasz in his "5 Minutes" blog post today -

" The New York Jets aren’t bringing back five assistant coaches: After finishing as the runner-up in the AFC, the Jets are shaking up their coaching staff. Head coach Rex Ryan is making some changes.

That’s really interesting to me in light of the Rams’ decision to fire two trainers after a 1-15 season."

**EDIT** - Miklasz wrote today that the Jets moves were for cost-cutting reasons, according to new reports.

As Jim Thomas wrote in his story today, the 2 trainers who were let go weren't really given much of an explanation for their firing. The Rams did have a LOT of injuries this season but they claim that's not the reason.

The Rams are just the picture of ineptness these days and that's unfortunate.

Random Sunday Thoughts...

....thriller of a football game down on the bayou tonight. It did my sentimental heart good to see #4 lead the Norsemen back to tie the game late. He broke said heart by throwing an ugly INT that sent the game to OT. Would have been nice to have a Peyton vs. Brett Super Bowl. Will be nice not to have the game on FOX - not the biggest fan of Joe and Troy am I.

...The Who ( I am NOT making this part up) is the halftime entertainment this year. Seriously? Is the show being sponsored by Geritol? Were the Lawrence Welk All-Stars not available?

...enjoyed the new film Crazy Heart at the Plaza Frontenac cinema yesterday. Jeff Bridges (in what the P-D's Joe Williams calls a career-capping performance) effortlessly embodies the role of a washed-up country singer down on just about everything in life. I read somewhere that if Waylon Jennings were still alive he'd have played the part, which would have worked too. Bridges will likely get an Oscar nomination for the role.

...also enjoyed some great jazz at the Sheldon last evening. Eliane Elias made a very rare St. Louis appearance with her trio. Elias is a superb interpreter of bossa nova music and American standards. Her piano playing and vocalizing were excellent throughout her (roughly) 2-hour set. The trio was a standard guitar-bass-drums configuration; the guitarist and drummer were both native Brazilians, like Elias, natives of Sao Paulo.

...coulda swore that was the disembodied voice of Martin Sheen voicing a (what seemed like) 32-minute commercial for some new video game tonight.

...the Cardinals just thought they were done talking about steroids and McGwire's past using said PED's. Nope. The hits just keep on coming from all sides and they now have perhaps an even bigger problem than before. Their opportunity to get their story straight has passed, sadly. 6 minutes in a remote hotel hallway last Sunday didn't do them a bit of good. This thing and the recent revelation that they're taking control of Christian Family Day (from the people who've done it fabulously for almost 20 years) makes me wonder if they are less concerned with their image than with their revenues. It's disappointing, to say the least.

...garage door opener has been broken all week due to a stripped drive gear. I've been building my muscles by manually working the door by hand whenever I want to go somewhere. My door isn't one of these modern metal jobs, folks--it's solid wood. I've got parts coming to fix the opener and free step-by-step installation instructions courtesy of the Internets. This blogger is going to get his repair on this week!

...I"m not interested in Farmville and I will pray for you who've fallen victim to its siren song. (don't slam me, folks...I'm just teasing!)

...the 3 finalists for the NFL's Man of the Year were announced today and 2 of the 3 used to play for the Rams. Why, again, did we let London Fletcher get away all those years ago? He's only been a leading tackler in the years since he left.

...will be doing trivia nights the next two Saturday nights....guess I'd better start studying.

...Is it already almost Monday? Seriously?

Why My Dad Is Cool...

Thursday night I went to open my garage door so I could take my recycle bin out to the curb. FAIL. The door opener wouldn't open the door. This was why:


The brace that attached the end of the opener and the roll bar of the door springs had pulled completely out of the wall. I couldn't hammer it back in because the board it attached too had split. Fortunately, I was easily able to get the door open by hand after taking apart the black "J" hook. I e-mailed my dad some pictures of the problem so he could help me figure out how to fix it.

This was his solution:

A few pieces of scrap wood plus the two original braces and we had it fixed in an hour this afternoon.

Thanks, Dad!

(Insert Creative Title Here)...

because I can't think of one.

I tried mightily yesterday to do a video blog but after more than an hour of false starts and outtakes, I gave up. TV is harder than it looks, folks. So, you get the text-only version.

It was mighty, mighty cold 'round these parts last week. It was probably the coldest week that I've experienced since I've lived in this house. There was a modest snowstorm overnight Wednesday into Thursday which only deepened the cold. It was so cold that I didn't walk Chili-dog at all until Saturday. I just didn't feel safe having her out early in the morning in the extremest cold. Things bottomed out on Saturday night, with the first period of below-zero temperatures in about 10 years.

Weekend was quiet - had to stay close to home because I am on call for work until this Wednesday. I did venture up to the Borders store in Brentwood because they had a couple of CDs that I've been looking for in stock and I had a 33% off coupon. (The CDs were by The Clientele and Camera Obscura. No, you've probably not heard of them but they are both fabulous!) I also bought a new devotional book for the year, "Look Unto Me: The Devotions of Charles Spurgeon." It's based on Spurgeon's classic "Morning By Morning" devotional. I like what I've read of it so far.

Mark McGwire finally came out of hiding to make his long-anticipated steroids confessional today. He confirmed the obvious, that he was juiced during his 1998 home run record breaker season. I knew he was guilty as suspected after his foolish appearance before the Congressional panel a few years back. "I'm not here to talk about the past" were his words at that time, which translates to "yeah, I used steroids but I really, REALLY don't want to admit to it yet." That he would eventually confess was pretty much a given after he accepted an offer to become the Cardinals hitting coach for this season. I guess a guy can only live with his past for so long. His confessional was a scripted, carefully planned event as detailed in this NYT article.

Funniest, most awesome song lyric I've heard in a long time: "You, with your dietary restrictions / Said you loved me with a lot of conviction" - from Camera Obscura's "French Navy." That's a heckuva way to rhyme two words! :) Later in the same song we get, "You make me go 'ooooooh' with the things that you do, you do, you do." Lovely.

Only 3 Months Away...

Santa Claus brought me a 10-game Cardinals season ticket package for this season...hard to imagine seeing a game on a day like today!

At Age Two...

Niece Lydia turned two years old today....both sets of grandparents and I celebrated a bit early on Sunday evening. We enjoyed a dinner of Imo's Pizza and a dessert of birthday cupcakes (the birthday girl devoured the icing off of hers) and cookies.

Happy birthday, sweet girl. You are loved.

Testing.....1...2..3...4...

So I've got this cool new $20 Logitech C200 webcam....maybe I'll start doing some videoblogging..