One of the greatest home run calls could easily be applied to the last 6 weeks of Cardinal baseball. A season that appeared to be lost with injuries and mediocrity, turned into arguably the greatest season in Cardinal history. After a little over a week, I am still stunned and amazed.

Our little Suki has grown from under a pound when Nikki found her to over 5 lbs now. It's so good to have another pet around. Especially to watch her learn about things like the printer and seltzer water. She tends to sleep wherever she falls and still wants to 'pet' Cooper, but all of that goes with the fun of having a kitten. Coop seems to enjoy the company, unless she is having a fit too late at night. The only downside is that she is impossible to photograph. Oh well, we still love her.

Leslie "Pa-paw" French

April 30th, 1926 - Sept 28th, 2011

After having a stroke a couple weeks before, my granddad passed away last Wednesday. I have several images of him in my head over the years, but the blurry one below is one of the most enduring. I started thinking about him about what he meant to everyone on the flight home. He was most likely responsible for a bunch of Cardinal fans and several people catfishing on the banks of Kentucky Lake. He never met a stranger and there were probably very few moments where he had little to say. But through it all he never forced his opinion on anyone, it was more of talking to an old friend. He probably never knew it or thought about it much , but he left a great blueprint on how to be person in this tough world. He will be sorely missed and even after all his talks and tales, I still feel like there were more to hear.

The Cards finally caught the Braves and Fantasy Baseball is shaping up to be a great finale. With one game to go in the season, things are very tight. It's fun to see the wild card races come down to the end. But in Fantasy news, Glenn passed me yesterday to take first place after 161 games. 53 points is all that separates 1st to 3rd (Justin) and then ladies have their own race. Nikki leads Amanda by 1.7 points and Kathy by 22.7. Pretty amazing after close to 7000 points by the leader, we come down to such tight races going into the finale today. Plus we have some good regular baseball also. Go Cards.

Well the big news? As if everyone who reads this doesn't know, I am back to doing what I guess I really love. Most know that the last couple years were rough at times, but also a lot of fun (in a weird way I guess). Even though there were times in the previous years where I had to dig deep to accomplish what I was trying to do, the last two made me dig deeper. I realized (or reaffirmed) that I have a great social network and support group of family and friends. Everyone knows how self-reliant and stubborn I can be, but there were quite a few times in this down turn where I really needed some friendly advice or encouragement, even if I wouldn't admit it. Those people that aided and stuck by me through all of this really showed me what friendship should be. Hopefully I learned a lot through people's kind gestures and care.

The last couple months flew by. I have had firms interested in hiring me over the entire time, but things fell through or the timing was just not right. Plus I had my heart set on staying in the Justice field as long as I could afford the Vienna sausage. (Those that know me, know I would prefer to skip that stuff). In January, I started consulting with McCarty Company in Tupelo, MS. I have known about the firm since about '98 through my fellow goat herder Justin. Interest picked up with another firm in August and low and behold I had two offers within a week. After a lot of antagonizing thinking, I decided to follow my gut and join the firm in MS. Yep, we will be moving some time in the near future. So I have been officially employed for a couple weeks now. Feels weird at times, but very satisfying at others. I really like the firm and the people that work there. I was always looking for the right fit and this appears to be the place for me.

Over the last couple years, I thought about how things could have turned out differently and what the future holds. Yep I tediously think a bunch. That's probably where Cooper gets it from. Some times things just happen, no matter how much of yourself you give. It hurts but that's life and you have to realize that it isn't necessarily you when you see it happening all the time to good people. My goals are to always be learning and giving back. If I can keep those two things in front of me, I will be a happy camper. We will see what this next chapter brings me, Nicole, Coop and Suki, but I believe it will be just fine when you have good people looking out for you.