April 20 was the day I’d been waiting for for months. Warm, but not too warm. Plenty of sunshine. Not a terribly busy day at work. And the trees are greening up nicely, filling out enough so that, from a distance, they look pretty darn summery. I took my camera to work. And at...
One Vote
In 1998, I ran for alderman in my town of Rock Hill, Mo. Surprised the heck out of myself, because it’s not really something I ever imagined I’d do. But our neighborhood had had some issues with the city government, and although the particular issues were mostly cleared up, the process had exposed some...
London Calling
It was 30 years ago this spring that music–both my own and the world’s at large–got an incredible jolt. The Clash album London Calling was released in England in December of 1979, and in the U.S. in January 1980. Normally I’m not an “early adopter” of new music, but thanks to my good friend...
Australian GP
Formula 1 racing may be the best show in motorsports that nobody knows about. It seems that way in the U.S., anyway, where the media coverage is NASCAR NASCAR NASCAR IndyCar NASCAR NASCAR. But give me a choice between oval racing and road racing, and I’ll take the twists and turns of a road...
Quivering Quads Trail Half Marathon
Stretched out in front of us was a ribbon of muck, sprinkled liberally with puddles of water. Our shoes, when we’d pull them up out of the mud, made a sucking sound that would make Ross Perot proud. “This,” the starter told us,” is the best-groomed part of the course.” And he wasn’t kidding....
David Gray at the Touhill
David Gray was in town last night, for a concert at the Touhill Center at UMSL. We saw him about nine years ago, on the White Ladder Tour, and I don’t think he’d been to St. Louis since then. He was great then, and even better this time. It was my first time at...
Public Time
I own one working watch. And it doesn't tell time. It's my Garmin Forerunner 305, a GPS running watch that I got last summer. It tells me how long I've been running and how far I've gone (down to the 1/100 of a mile), how fast my heart is beating, how fast I ran the...
A Letter From The Government
A letter came in the mail today, from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Admistration, U.S. Census Bureau. In great big letters above my address, it said “United States Census 2010.” Oh goody, I thought, it’s our census form! But certainly our census form is going to be more than one page,...
I Should Market Deodorant To Statues
These are my current desktop photos. At work: and at home:...
Spring Training
Really? Baseball already? Spring training began this week. Well, last week, if you count pitchers and catchers. Forgive me if I don’t share the reverence that some apparently feel for the phrase “Pitchers and catchers report…” This morning, it was 20 degrees in St. Louis. Early April is six weeks away, but there’s a...