Odds and Ends

1. We've been without power since early Saturday morning because of the most recent ice storm. Thankfully, the rest of the storm was a mostly non-event; however, it doesn't really explan why Ameren has been so slow restoring the power to my zip code and especially to the homes in my neighborhood, which all have underground lines. In fact, the houses in the next development, that have regular suspended lines (and had several lines down) got their power back last night! Go figure.

2. While I'm thankful that my Indianapolis Colts won, I'm not thankful at all that their eternal nemesis, the New England Pats, won too. At least Sunday's game will be at the RCA Dome, where the Colts are 9-0 this season; it'll make their defense a little faster. And at least Bob Sanders is back and the Colts have begun to play run defense. Still, it is hard to be confident in the light of Tom Brady's amazing comeback last night.

3. Another Saturday event in which we participated was the St. Louis Cardinals Winter Warm-up. Never was an event so appropriately named, with our home's indoor temp hovering around 50 degrees. I took my five-year old son with me and we saw all kinds of Cards stuff; we were also the closest we've ever been to El Hombre. Bought the two things for which I've long pined: a baseball signed by Scott Rolen and a 1958 card signed by Stan Musial. Both go in my baseball "shrine" in my office here at the Seminary.

4. One of the better pieces of news from one of the college football teams I follow is this.

5. Though I wasn't a big fan of the Kelvin Sampson hiring, I have to admit these guys are playing hard defense and move around a lot better on offense than during the Mike Davis era.