Jeopardy!

This was the month that I transitioned to HDTV. I purchased a 40" Sony LCD TV and it is absolutely incredible. Right now I'm watching Planet Earth on Discovery HD Theater -- the episode about deserts. The clarity of the images is breathtaking!

Another show that looks awesome in high-def -- believe it or not -- is Jeopardy! All I can say is this: I am hooked! I record it every afternoon and look forward to watching it in the evenings. What a fun show that is surprisingly stunning in high-def!

They moved my bowl.

A cute cartoon from The New Yorker:

Water and paint

Here is a beautiful watercolor, "Distant Shoreline of Trees," by a colleague and friend, Steve.
Check out Steve's web site, LiquidChroma, for more of his art.

A mature person

A mature person is one who does not think only in absolutes, who is able to be objective even when deeply stirred emotionally, who has learned that there is both good and bad in all people and in all things, and who walks humbly and deals charitably with the circumstances of life, knowing that in this world no one is all knowing and therefore all of us need both love and charity.

—Eleanor Roosevelt

Dawson the beagle

Here's a blog posting about my dog Dawson from Ellen Ellick, founder of the St. Louis Senior Dog Project, the not-for-profit rescue group I adopted Dawson from last year.

Dawson is shown below with Cherry, who cared for him for his first eight years and with whom I have become dear friends.
More photos of Dawson in the blog posting.

Please consider the St. Louis Senior Dog Project for your next dog. They have nothing but the best intentions -- for both the dogs they've rescued and the people wanting a loving pet. Since their volunteers foster care for the dogs in their homes, they'll be able to tell you -- with fairly high confidence -- how a particular dog will work out in your household, with your family members, with your schedule of being home vs. not being home, and so on.

As Ellen mentions in her blog, I've adopted two dogs (Dawson and Maddie) from them. And I won't hesitate to adopt from them again in the future.

"All of beef"

Hello from Seattle, where I've been all week for a work conference. Last night, went to a Vietnamese restaurant recommended in a Seattle travel book. It was in an area called "Little Vietnam." I opted for vegetarian. But my colleague ordered some kind of dish with the wording "all of beef" in the description. He figured they meant "all-beef" but what they really meant was beef tongue, beef intestines, beef anything and everything!

He recognized the beef intestines immediately and didn't eat the food.

So beware of "all of beef."

Ah, once again -- the power of language...

Fan letter

My first fan letter, from my friend Wendy:

I was in Scottsdale last weekend with my best friend, and we checked out your blog to see what movie to go to. I kid you not. And we saw the Year of the Dog, and we both liked it a lot.

Thanks Wendy!

Piñada fun

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, here are some candid snapshots of my friend Kathryn's piñada, Cinco de Mayo...
More Cinco de Mayo fun here...

"St. Louis Cardinals, Worlb Series Champions 2000"

A lawsuit has been filed against a St. Louis tattoo parlor for messing up a tattoo that a college student had done on the day after the Cardinals won the World Series last fall. Full story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Highlights here:

This is embarrassing -- He has a tattoo across his back that's spelled wrong. This is not a laughing matter.

—attorney for the victim

You can't take an eraser to it, but there are things we can do to make it look good.

—owner of the tattoo parlor