Joe's Family and Friends blog

The last few days, Columbia has been buried under snow.

On Friday, work was closed due to the snow. I, of course, was pretty much stranded at my place. I got a few errands done, but mostly just sat around and watched TV.

Saturday, with John and John's help, we got the driveway dug out. The afternoon was grocery shopping, and working with Best Buy to get the computer taken care of. Caleb came over later, and we watched basketball the rest of the evening.

After church yesterday, I sat down, watched a bit of football, and got a call from Skander. He invited me out to play snow football with him and various friends. Caleb came along, also. We ended up with a good game - Skander, Shannyn, Tim, and me against Caleb, Jim, Kellen, and Lauren. I caught two touchdown passes, including one that I caught, then juggled, then caught again, then juggled again, then caught again. Playing in gloves apparently helped me, because I've never been worth a darn at football. Afterward, Skander, Shannyn, TIm, and Lauren joined Caleb and me, and we all went out to eat at Culver's. Afterward, Caleb and I caught a few last basketball games.

Actually, snowy weather has been quite nice - if you leave out the ice-on-the-roads part of it. A good break from the office routine, a little bit of housework, including getting stuff out of the entrance-way, a chance to rest, and stocking up on food around my place.

I just got back from lunch with my friends John and Dustin, as well as Skander. John and Dustin work at LanIt, which my old office partner started somewhere around 16 years ago. Dustin may be able to play basketball with us tomorrow night; we're playing Ott Trucking, so I hope he can make it.

We had a lot of great discussion over lunch. I really enjoyed the time with these guys. I need to call John and Dustin up more often.

On Saturday, I went to Sam and Michelle's in Kansas City to see the 3 Pints Gone house concert. John Crane came along with me.

It was an awesome show. Among the most impressive sounding songs were Sailor's Prayer and Wild Mountain Thyme. Sailor's Prayer was exceptionally strong, and I'm pretty sure that it was the additional voice of Michi Regier. In addition to Michi, they had Mike - the big bass singer - singing, and that just really fills out the sound of 3 Pints Gone.

I was pleased to see that Kath seemed to be doing much better health-wise than when I saw her up in Wisconsin at the Highland Games. She really seemed to light up the show. Obviously, Bill's the front man for the band - a role he was born to fill - but more and more, Kathleen's presence on the stage has grown to the point that she really has become the warmth of the group. Bill draws you in, and Kath keeps you there.

Jim is now doing some substitute teaching in addition to teaching music. He's still doing some work with Jon Baade, and I'm excited to hear how that turns out. Jim is going to be doing some more writing, and I'm curious to see how that will integrate into 3 Pints Gone, because there's so much talent there to use; with all three of the members being able to carry a song, that's a lot of ground for Jim to cover.

We didn't go out in the neighborhood singing Christmas carols; we just sang there in Sam and Michelle's house.

3 Pints Gone won't be performing at Hogmanay this year. There's a big show that sounds really good on January 27th, but of course, that's my first Upward Basketball game.

All in all, 3 Pints Gone is getting stronger and stronger as a group, and I'm really pleased to see that. If you're reading this, you probably need to know a few things: first of all, their latest album, There Is A Ship, is among the strongest album's I've ever heard. (I highly recommend the songs "Wind In The Riggin'", "There Is A Ship," "The Final Trawl," and "Away Rio." Secondly, you can find out a lot about the band by going to their web site: http://www.3pintsgone.com . And third, if you have a chance to see these folks perform, you'll walk away feeling like a friend - even more so if you take the time to speak to them. That's what I did with Bill and Kath nine years ago - and they've been wonderful friends since that time.

Check out their site, and check out this band.