Synopsis:

While worrying that she’s going crazy (always a reputation ruiner), Rileigh gets a visit from Kim, a handsome martial arts instructor, who tells Rileigh she’s harboring the spirit of a five-hundred-year-old samurai warrior.

Relentlessly attacked by ninjas, Rileigh has no choice but to master the katana–a deadly Japanese sword that’s also the key to her past. As the spirit grows stronger and her feelings for Kim intensify, Rileigh is torn between continuing as the girl she’s always been and embracing the warrior inside her.

The Cover: Great sense of what this novel is about without reading the synopsis. A blonde chick with swords, the cherry blossoms, and the slashes through the title are enough to know Japan has something to do with the story.

The First Line: “I stepped outside the department store and felt something squish against my heel where concrete should have been.” This line serves as insight into the main character and I got the hint that she was a bit of a diva.

The Good: Rileigh kicks serious ass, whether she wants to or not. I enjoyed the shifts back into 15th century Japan and thought this was used perfectly. The reader gets a feel for the past without being overwhelmed by it. Gibsen could have easily fallen into overusing 15th century Japan to tell Rileigh’s story, but she avoided it with expertise. Rileigh’s a strong character and really reflects some of the struggles teenagers, and let’s face it a lot of adults, face in figuring out who they are.

Also, there are a lot of laugh out loud moments.

The Bad: The first chapter moved a little slow for me, but once Rileigh’s samurai spirit kicked in, the novel took off without looking back.

Recommendation: If you like strong female characters, this is a must read.

There are some great bargains to be had if you’re an autograph seeker. BUT a lot of the tickets are already sold out. Yes… SOLD OUT.

Crazy? Maybe, but Cardinal Nation is strong even without the faces that have been associated with the team for last sixteen years. So if you missed your chance to plop down the dough for Lance Berkman or David Freese, don’t despair. You can still get in on the free autographs and hear the baseball chatter as we wait impatiently for Spring Training to start.

Head downtown to get into the baseball spirit this weekend. I promise you won’t regret it.

The following players will be signing free autographs and will not require an autograph ticket.

Tagged: Baseball, Cardinals, Family, friends, Fun, Just for Fun, Major League Baseball, Memories, Missouri, MLB, Musings, Opinion, Opinions, ramblings, Random, Random Thoughts, St. Louis, St. Louis Cardinals, Winter Warm Up ]]> http://lsmurphy.com/2012/01/10/2012-winter-warm-up-preview/feed/ 0 lsmurphy 2012 Winter Warm Up http://lsmurphy.com/2011/09/17/glowing-in-forest-park/ http://lsmurphy.com/2011/09/17/glowing-in-forest-park/#comments Sun, 18 Sep 2011 01:09:07 +0000 LS Murphy http://lsmurphy.com/?p=1012 ]]> This summer has been beyond busy and moved at lightspeed. Sadly, my blog has fallen by the wayside. I plan on remedying that in the upcoming months with a new look.

Until then, here are some photos from The Great Forest Park Balloon Race and Glow.

Energizer Bunny

Lighting Up the Park

Meet Me in St. Louis

Of course, Passan likes to rile up Cardinals fans so that may be why. It also bothered me that the Yahoo! Sports Minute showed the clip with the commentary from the Brewers broadcasters and not the Cardinals broadcasters. Yeah, like the Brewers announcers are going to say that Yadi had a point. They aren’t stupid. Their market is Brewers fans, not fairness to any situation.

It’s a point of contention with Cardinals’ fans that the national media ignores our team or just shove it to the side with such blatant lack of real journalistic ethics. If Yahoo had any journalist ethics, they would have used the commentary from BOTH teams. But I digress….

Back to Passan’s column.

Did Yadi spit on Drake? Maybe. I know that when people are yelling that spittle flies. Happens to the best of us, after all. Regardless, it’s an unfortunate situation and he does deserve a punishment.

But what about the umpires?

Really? In situations like this where a call is blown, what punishment to they get?

The most famous blown call in Cardinal history came in the 1985 World Series. Cards fans know this one by heart. In case you don’t know the story, Don Denklinger blew an easy call at first during the eighth inning of game six. The Cards lost momentum and eventually the championship. While Denklinger dealt with the ire of fans, what punishment did he receive from MLB?

None.

Then there was the blown call last year that didn’t cost a championship, but it cost a player something almost as hard to achieve: a perfect game. Armando Galarraga lost el perfecto when umpire Jim Joyce pulled a Denklinger. Joyce and Galarraga handled the situation with more professionalism than any bank CEO has. Still, other than being added to the list of Worst Calls in MLB History, what punishment did he receive?

None.

Players make mistakes. Umpires make mistakes. They are human. It’s part of the game. Yadi deserves whatever fines/suspensions he gets. He lost his cool. BUT shouldn’t the umpires be fined for making the bad calls that make things like this happen? Shouldn’t umpires be held to the same standard of MLB players?

Maybe if there was equal ground, there would be equal respect…

While I appreciate that Colby Rasmus has incredible potential, it was time for him to move on from St. Louis. He wasn’t happy here. He never would be either. A player that asks for a trade two seasons in a row, doesn’t want to play for that team anymore, no matter how much smoke (or money) you blow up their a$$.

People are screaming for LaRussa’s head. People are screaming for Mozeliak to stop catering to LaRussa. So instead of looking at it from a baseball perspective, look at it from a standard employee/employer perspective.

As an employer, you have an employee who doesn’t want to work for your company. He’s not living up to your expectations. You can’t fire him because he hasn’t done anything wrong. The employee just doesn’t fit with the whole of the company.

As an employee, you feel like your boss is always picking on you. Your coworkers are on your rear about how to do this and how to do that. Then you have your father telling you how to do your job as well.

The best solution for all involved is for the employee to move on.

This is what happened when the Cardinals traded Colby Rasmus to Toronto. I wish him well. I hope he lives up to his potential. And I hope he grows some balls and tells his father to butt out of his career. He’s 24 not 14. He can vote, buy booze, and go to as many strip clubs as he wants. Why does he need his father to hold his hand as he figures out his career?

Good Luck, Colby.

A lot of people are wondering what the big deal is. I’ll tell you.

First, the building is on the National Registry of historic places. It wouldn’t be on the list if it wasn’t unique. It wouldn’t be on the list if there wasn’t some historical significance. Why tear down something that has character? Is it as beautiful as the Fabulous Fox Theater down the street? Nope. But can you really imagine anything else in that spot? Nope. Even when Del Taco closes, as it inevitably will, the building will stand out in its individuality.

Second, people care because they have memories there. As someone who can’t show her daughter where she really went to high school because the building is gone, I can understand the outcry. Students at St. Louis University frequent the taco shop and create memories there. It’s no fun to drive past a location where something used to be and try to recall it. But seeing it as it once was, even under a different incarnation, still holds that memory. And continues to create memories.

This morning on the radio one of my favorite talk show hosts was all for tearing down the building and creating something new. In his opinion, it would give people jobs. Yes, that is true. BUT what about all the abandoned buildings in the area that are falling in on themselves? What about all the empty historical homes that could be refurbished and made beautiful again? There are jobs there too, but he didn’t say anything about that.

Tearing down the building is all about the cold, hard cash. The developers see an opportunity to add more business in one spot, thereby boosting their own income. There isn’t anything wrong with that. That’s what they do. If only they could see the value of history over the value of a buck.

Like so many other people, I hope the building stays. I hope that another restaurant can open up there and continue the late night food craving tradition. And I hope that the developers look at the building for what it is, not what they want to put there.

St. Louis has a rich history. It would be a shame to start tearing it down.

Watch the aircraft fly in and land at Ballpark Village:

The Albany Marine Corp Band:

Fredbird joins in as the band plays Earth, Wind, & Fire:

M1 Abrams

Osprey

Marine Week is a welcome addition to St. Louis. It gives civilians a look at what it means to be a member of The Corps and the equipment that they use to protect our freedoms. It’s a chance to get to know some of the men and women behind the uniform. And a chance to say thanks.

Semper Fi.

When I woke up, there was a basket by my coffeepot that held three bags of my favorite whole bean coffee (Thomas Coffee here in St.Louis) and a box of tea bags. It was a sweet and thoughtful surprise.

He offered to bring lunch to my office from my favorite Chinese restaurant. Of course, I wasn’t going to turn that down!

He walked in with two of his coworkers, who are also very good friends of mine. We chatted, but I couldn’t help notice that the hubby was hiding something behind his back.

Then he handed me a bag with the perfect surprise: an Amazon Kindle.

I’d been thinking about and wanting a Kindle for a quite a while. In fact, I started saving up a few bucks here and there to buy one. I’m not a fan of using my credit card and my mother taught me the value of the dollar a long time ago. (Okay, she taught me to be “thrifty” as she puts it.)

I should have known he’d do something like that. He’s always throwing my off by picking up on the little things I say and acting on them. If I casual mention something a few times, he doesn’t hesitate to get it for me. He doesn’t have to do so, but that’s just the kind of guy that he is.

He may have given me the perfect gift, but the reality is I ended up marrying the perfect man.

Sing along with Franklin. Here are the lyrics.

This year’s Trivia Night had a new look. Out was the guy who had, for the last three years or so, written the questions and emceed the event. Shawn Bilant from The Big 550 KTRS took the mike and did a fantastic job with the questions.

The silent auction items were mind-blowing and included a picnic basket with two bottles of wine and over $80 in gift certificates as well as a signed baseball by St. Louis Cardinal center fielder Colby Rasmus. Local merchants like Joey B’s restaurant and  Mound City Shell Nut donated items for the silent auction. The Gateway Grizzlies and St. Louis Cardinals donated baseball tickets. Even ABinBev pitched in to help.

Victims of Crime, with the help of donations, can get the help they need. The OVC (Office for Victims of Crime) has a mission “to enhance the Nation’s capacity to assist crime victims and to provide leadership in changing attitudes, policies, and practices to promote justice and healing for all victims of crime. OVC accomplishes its mission in many different ways:

• Administering the Crime Victims Fund.
• Supporting direct services.
• Providing training programs.
• Sponsoring demonstration projects.
• Producing publications of promising practices in victim services.”

But TRIVIA was the name of the game and it was one fun night. There is a trick to a good trivia night. The questions have to be fun, but there need to be a few tough ones to separate the men from the boys. The first question of the night under the St. Louis category was: St. Louis Cardinal Lance Berkman last played for what team? Well, the answer was New York Yankees, but some answered Houston Astros, the team Berkman spent the majority of his career with.

The highlight of the night came in the final round: Finish the Lyric. By the tenth round, tables that are out of contention tend to lose focus. Not at this trivia night. Everybody sang. Even if they were singing the answers, they didn’t care. It was fun to hear a gym full of people singing “American Pie” and “Piano Man” after the music had cut out. The eighth question was to finish the lyric from “Party in the USA”. And that’s when everyone got a show. A gentleman at one of the tables in the back of the gym stood up, lip-synced the words, and danced like he was on American Bandstand. It was ah-ma-zing. He was given a standing ovation when the music cut out.

All-in-all, it was a great Trivia Night. Not for just the team that took the top prize but for the organizers as well as the victims.

And that staggering sum of money I talked about… Almost $13,000 was raised for Crime Victims.

I’d call that a BIG WIN.