Quick, how long does Lent last? If you’re like most people, you’ll say 40 days. It commemorates Jesus’ self-imposed 40-day exile in the desert, when he foresook all food, etc., etc. Unfortunately, you’d be wrong. Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on the day before Easter, is actually 46 days, if you...
Reading List, February 2013—My Last (And Next) Five Books
I’m back on track with reading now, hopefully. As you’ll see, Christmas threw a big, and welcome, wrench into my reading list. My last five books, in order of completion: 1: A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. It’s my Christmas tradition. This year I put it off until the last moment, and didn’t start...
Day 3
I’ve pretty much made it through Day 3 without caffeine, and I feel like I may have turned a corner. Day 1 was just as bad as I expected: listlessness, inability to concentrate, and a gnawing headache that persisted all day. I was actually planning to post an update here, but I just didn’t...
So Long, Caffeine
As someone who has never been particularly religious (in the traditional sense of the word), nor Catholic (in any sense), I’ve never felt the obligation to “give something up for Lent.” Well, I’ve decided that this Lent, I’m going to attempt that sacrifice. Not really for religious reasons, but for personal reasons … which...
Trade In These Wings On Some Wheels
I was driving to work this morning, listening to The Loft, my new favorite SiriusXM station. The DJ listed the songs he’d just played, including some before I tuned in. One was Thunder Road by Cowboy Junkies. Holy magic in the night! I didn’t know that existed! I got to work and immediately looked...
Graffiti Building Coming Down
If you’ve driven northbound through St. Louis on I-55, you’ve seen this building. It’s nestled in the curve of the exit ramp that leads you onto the Poplar Street Bridge, and it’s been a point of interest for many years. I’m not sure what it was in its original lifetime, but some time ago...
USA Cross Country Championships
The United States Cross Country Championships were held in Forest Park in St. Louis today. In addition to juniors races and a couple of local races, the big events were the men’s and women’s championships. The top six finishers of those races will travel to the World Cross Country Championships later this year in...
Early Bird: I’ll Gladly Give Up The Worm If You’ll Just Let Me Sleep
My alarm clock hasn’t gone off all year. It’s usually set for something like 5 a.m., but of late I’ve been finding myself awake—wide awake, unrecoverably awake, electrically awake—at about 3:30 every morning. I reach over, turn the alarm off so it doesn’t wake up my wife 90 minutes hence, and get up to...
Yes, January In St. Louis
January 30, 2012. Various tones of black, white and grey; that’s pretty much it for January here. Taken from the gas station on South Broadway just south of downtown as I pumped just a couple of gallons of their overpriced product....
Suited Up
A pair of tights. A skin-tight shirt made of wicking material. Another shirt, also wicking, with long sleeves and an extended neck. A pair of running pants, or “loose tights” as some call them. A nylon windbreaker jacket. A pair of thick gloves. On my head, a thin knit balaclava as well as a...