Coming and going

Today is a long-time coworker Steve Warmowski’s last day. Julie helped me make some chili for a newsroom potluck we’re having for lunch. That reminds me — I need to check on it. … It’s doing OK, but taking longer for the beans to soften than expected. Steve is staying in town, so maybe I’ll still see him a fair amount. We also have a new reporter starting soon. I hear she found an apartment, so she should be here soon.

I started working on a new Web site the other night and it was fairly frustrating. I lost track of time and stayed up way too late. Still lots to do on it.

We have an opening reception for our May artist at the gallery this Friday. That means we had a show come down this week and a show going up.

I’m also planning to go to an Ultimate tournament Saturday in Carbondale. That’s a long drive after working all day Friday. It’s going to be rough, I think.

I went to see the doctor about my shoulder on Monday. He wants to try even more rehab and is less gung-ho about surgery. My shoulder is still really weak, though.

Some sort of $700 computer went out on the car, but it’s under warranty. I did have to nearly spend that much on tires, though … ug.

Vanderslice

Julie and I drove down to St. Louis Wednesday to see John Vanderslice play at the Billiken Club at St. Louis University. The concert was great. I bought a copy of his latest CD, though somehow I knew almost all the songs on it, I hadn’t bought a copy yet … and he signed it for me.

Heroes Happen

Busy week coming up; I’ll be in Des Moines for a marketing event (and seeing Toni, Christopher & their twins), then swinging through Illinois for a meeting in Itasca the following week. While in Illinois, I’ll be able to catch karate class a few times and Jantina gets to help Kallie with her prom primping!

My XBOX “red-ringed” but I just got it back from repair (took about a month). I’ve been playing the new Halo 3 maps; the Heroic map pack is now free, and the Legendary map pack (has a remake of “sidewinder”!) is 800 points.

We’ve been watching the new season of Battlestar Galactica through Sci-Fi rewind! That was the biggest temptation for upgrading cable, but now we just hook the laptop up to the TV and watch it a day late 😉

Earthquake in Ill.

Lighter sleepers — I’m not usually included in that lot — were shaken awake by the tremors from a 5.2 earthquake 150 miles away at 4:37 a.m. this morning.

The earthquake’s epicenter was estimated to be six miles northwest of Mount Carmel, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earthquake Web site.

Aftershocks were felt as far away as Grand Rapids, Mich. The latest aftershock about 10:15 a.m. had a magnitude of 4.2, according to the USGS.

My mom said it woke her. Troy, how about you guys … too far away?

The Revolution’s You

There’s a new story in the SJ-R about Josh Foster (formerly Smith) and the project he’s been working on.