Friday night my wife and I had dinner with George Costanza. Well, not really. At a Japanese Steakhouse in Overland Park, we sat at a table with another couple, and they were quite unique. When the check came, the gentleman stood up and began wrestling to get something out of his pocket: His enormous, cantaloupe-sized wallet. This thing was amazing...It made Costanza's look puny. If I were to guess the contents, I would include money, credit cards, receipts, car keys, a pickle spear, the Yellow Pages, and pictures of their grandkids, among much else, clearly. He set it on the table, unzipped it (yes, it had a zipper), and chose a few bills, placing them with the check. But he wasn't done. After the waitress returned with his change, he proceeded to remove a calculator from his fanny pack (that's right), along with the checkbook. At this time his wife got up and left...didn't just go to the restroom, but left the restaurant entirely. We began to wonder if they were perhaps just on a date, but this seemed unlikely, as they had to be in their 60s. So he opened the checkbook and the calculator, and began crunching some numbers there at the table. He must have had 20 receipts folded up in the checkbook, and he added the one from dinner. After working with the calculator for a while, he folded up the checkbook, closed the calculator and returned them to his fanny pack. He then struggled mightily to return the gargantuan wallet to his pocket. Kari and I had to wonder why he didn't keep the humongo wallet in the fanny pack, too.

The Playoffs
The Cardinals begin the Playoffs this afternoon, hosting the San Diego Padres in a best-of-five series. I can only hope for a happier ending than last year. But, should the RedBirds make it back to the Fall Classic, Dad and I will once again make the trek to St. Louis in hopes of not having our hearts broken in person, again.

Congratulations...
...are in order for my friends, Doug and Molly Wharton, who were wed this weekend in Columbus, Ohio. Doug and Molly live in Honduras, where they work at a place filled with hope for children with HIV/AIDS. It is called Montana de Luz, which means "Mountain of Light." I invite you to read a speech Molly gave at their wedding, which was posted by my friend Eric Stetler, here. If you feel led, please support this mission in any way you possibly can.

And finally...
...this from Sojourners.

Now Reading: The Death of Ivan Ilyich, by Leo Tolstoy
Cardinals' Magic Number: 11