I’d been working on some music a while back.  By a while back, I mean a couple years ago, before a beautiful, interesting little girl moved into our house.  It appears as though our time and money may both be a bit short to allow me to finish it properly like I’d planned (mixing/mastering in a studio).  It’s not really an ambitious effort, just some acoustic and vocal stuff done at home with some extra touches here and there.  Hope you enjoy.

Colonel Hehlmudt

ALL OK ON MAYA FRONT STOP SEND MORE APPLE AND BLUEBERRY RATIONS STOP REGINALD SAYS HELLO STOP

http://stsanders.com

WHAT IS THAT NOISE KEEPING ME AWAKE?

This is Reginald.  He’s new to the neighborhood (for all we know).  He likes warm Christmas lights, a tall perch, and seems disgusted by his noisy neighbors (me and Maya).  Hopefully the weather we’re supposed to get early next week won’t take his main source of heat.

I just realized I hadn’t posted anything about Halloween.  My mom and stepdad came up to visit over Friday and Saturday, which was really nice.  Our church, which has held a Fall Festival on Halloween night in recent years, had decided to not hold one this year, so we chose to go to a Fall Festival at Family Church in Chesterfield.  Holy cow, what a production.  Rides, kettle corn, costume contests, games, etc.  If they hold it again next year, we may have to go- and bring money for food, as those burgers/brats smelled awesome.  Anyway, we had a lot of fun.  Maya did not place in the costume contest (there were some excellent homemade ones), but she was a crowd favorite. 

yummy

Haven’t had time to post anything lately-  work’s been uber busy.  Maya is still not quite crawling, mostly just moving backwards and getting frustrated.  But in the past few days, she’s begun to work her way forward, so it shouldn’t be long now.   We’re on the hunt for a red snowflake sweater.

First of all, this weekend was some amazing weather.  Nice, crisp, cool fall days with just enough sunshine to make it beautiful.  We drove up Thursday, which took about 7 hours as opposed to the usual 5 or so  -  travelling 350 miles with a baby requires a few more stops than usual, but we made it just fine.  Friday, Jodi and Maya and I took the train downtown and walked around.  Had lunch at Elephant and Castle (British pub style place- not overly impressive, but that was more due to lack of attentive service and the impersonal almost anti-family atmosphere of the place), walked down Michigan Avenue and by where I used to work, which was odd to see again.  It took me a while to get my bearings walking around, but I remembered how to make it back to the train station.  We did stop by the Daley Center, which had some Halloween stuff up but not yet open, and a lovely orange colored fountain.  We did happen to go to the American Girl store.  Never before have I seen such an atrocity of unnecessary accessorization.  We left pretty quickly, not knowing what to make of a bitty baby starter kit (WITHOUT doll, I believe) for $110.  The doll clothes were twice as expensive as what I was wearing.  Hopefully we can bypass that whole American Girl thing and Maya will never notice.  Sort of like the big, pink, fully accessorized elephant with matching pink umbrella and hand-stitched leather luggage in the room nobody notices.

[I'm going to sound a bit jerky now...]      Walking around downtown was a bit maddening.  People we met truly did run the gamut.  Many were smiling, cordial, etc., but often, there were just some who seemed self-absorbed, seemingly feeling too important for wherever it was they were at the moment.  Drivers are incredibly aggressive in nature; I used to joke about it, but using a turn signal really is seen as a sign of weakness.  This nature also transfers over to walking:  at crosswalks (we had a stroller), we’d be the first people to the intersection, pull up and wait.  Without fail, people would walk around us and step directly in front of us to wait for the light to change so they could get ahead.  There’s a constant sense of urgency that induces feelings of stress I’d not felt since living there.  I’d pretty much developed a hardened sense of it at the time, but now I totally recall that feeling of continually needing to be someplace else instead of enjoying where I’m at.  Maybe God has worked on my heart to take that away, maybe it’s simply the change of pace St. Louis has comparatively speaking; either way, I like where I’m at.  I think at the end of the day, we pretty much decided that other than the sights, we weren’t missing much and would likely skip downtown next time. Maya’s cuteness on the train could change that, though.  For now, she was more impressed with the sidewalk and dogs than the big buildings and fancy stores.[/ end jerkiness]

Saturday, we went to the NU Homecoming game against Purdue.  What a game for Maya’s first trip.  Even with some bad plays (a couple turnovers in the first quarter could’ve proven more costly than they did) and a couple missed scoring opportunities, the Cats really looked good.  Hopefully they’ll move on and grow stronger.  Maya had an awesome purple sweater and matching hat that Grandma made for her.  Mommy even sewed on the Northwestern logo, so she had a hand in it as well.   The weather, as I stated, was simply gorgeous.  We walked around some during the second half, enjoying the Randy Walker Terrace (big outside portion overlooking the field from one end zone), which had stuff for kids to do, space to run around a bit, etc.  That’ll be a lifesaver in coming years with little ones.  Wildcat Alley before the game was fun, including the Goose Island beer garden.  Beer at 10:00am?  Hey, at least it’s good beer.  Had a Honkers Ale, which was good as usual, and a Harvest Ale, which had a dark malt profile similar to the Honkers, but lots more hop forward notes.  If they have that available in bottle, I’d like to pick some up.  After the game, we walked around the campus a bit, went by the lake and looked around some.  There was still some tailgating going on, which was 1)  surprising in that it was at NU  but 2)  not surprising, given the weather.  We all agreed the burgers smelled so good we would even have hung out with Purdue fans. 

Tired, we went back to my sister’s house and enjoyed a really good Italian dinner.  My sister and brother-in-law recently returned from a 2-week trip to Italy, so they’re in full-on Italian food mode- which was good for us.  Penne with roasted tomatoes, artichokes, and wine sauce, some good Pinot Grigio, fresh bread, and grilled eggplant.  Sunday, we packed up the car, went to church with my sister, and drove home.  Maya slept most of the way.  Couldn’t have asked for a better weekend.  God blessed our time with them, and it was good to see them.  [Click here for more pics]

Yesterday was our anniversary- 4 years.  Yesterday was not altogether different from a normal day this week in that I went to work, got home, and we ate some leftovers and played with Maya.  But I believe tonight we may be going out to dinner and shopping for Maya’s Halloween costume.  I say giant tube of toothpaste.

Tomorrow is the NU vs MSU game at 2:30pm Central on ESPN2.  Should be a fantastic game- LakeThePosts.com had a nice post yesterday that compared in detail the stats of MSU running back Javon Ringer with those of NU running back Tyrell Sutton, and they actually were closer than I expected.  The fact that Ringer has been touted as a Heisman hopeful really had me nervous, but it seemed the majority of his success lies in the sheer number of carries he gets per game – on average, 20 more than Sutton.  His numbers are obviously still very good, but I think if NU’s defense can shut him down like Iowa pretty much did last week, NU’s definitely got a shot.  If MSU takes to the air, we may be in trouble.  Special teams and turnovers will probably play a big part yet again.  Should be interesting.

Sunday, we’re headed to Grandma’s house for a quick visit.  It’s been a couple weeks now since she’s seen Maya, and she appears to be going through withdrawal (Grandma, that is).  Next week, we’re off to Chicago to visit my sister and brother-in-law.  Also, the NU homecoming game.  The fall colors should make for a beautiful drive; we’re very excited.  Pray the gas prices continue to drop…

So we resigned to listening to the game on internet radio again this past weekend.  Only, when I was online setting it up, I noted on NUSports.com that it was an ESPN360 game.  Never tried it before, so I checked it out.  Took them a bit to get going, and the feed was behind by a few minutes, but there it was- live television on my computer.  Huh, whooda thunkit.  It took me a couple minutes (ok, 10) to figure out the graphics card setting to port out of the laptop via the S-video out to the television, but once i did, we were watching a quite nice picture.  Much nicer resolution than I’d expected; give it a try if you find you’re missing a game they carry.

Rasheed Ward had a career high day with 10 receptions and 1 TD.

Oh, and CATS WIN, 22-17 over Iowa.  Their next game on October 11th against Michigan State has already been bumped up from an 11am to 2:30pm Central start time and should be broadcast on ESPN2.  GO CATS!

Jodi and I are knee deep in planning a trip to Chicago to visit my sister, and we’re working on squeezing in an NU game as well (my sister, also an NU alum, has season tickets – did I mention that if we lived in the Evanston vicinity we’d also have tickets?  by vicinity, I mean less than a 6-hour drive).  Homecoming is usually our target game, but some other things have come up for that weekend (10/18).  So, we’ll just have to see what materializes.  But Maya is excited to see Auntie Katrina and Uncle Ed, and plans for a trip to the NU campus and perhaps downtown Chicago are in the works.  And a game is a must for her;  she’s already secured her attire, has her own keys*, and everything.  I will undoubtedly eat something my arteries would sternly advise against.  And it will taste excellent.

* Incidentally, i never knew THIS was the origin of the keys being jingled at kickoff.  kind of snobbish; a trait i’m not fond of about the school.  this and the cheers (“State school, State school”  and “That’s alright, that’s okay, you’ll be working for us someday”) are quite likely the result of, say, 30 years of consistently terrible football play coupled with the need to feel superior to the opponent in at least some way.  of course, this could also just be another wikipedia entry that falls a mile or two short of the truth.  either way, i park no one’s car, and no one parks my car for me.  QED.

Here are some highlights- they’re totally NU-centric, so you don’t see how well Shonn Greene and Ricky Stanzi played for Iowa, but it gives you an idea.

A few good Big Ten / NU related links:

• WNUR Sports page, specifically the SportsVoice show from last Sunday after the 16-8 win over Ohio Bobcats.
• Big Ten Bloggers Square/Roundtable (funny stuff)
• Big Ten blog, with a few news stories
• ESPN’s Big Ten stuff