Friday, March 21, 2008

Great Good Friday

Followed by Ash Wednesday, Good Friday is the solemnest day of the year for the world's Christians, because it marks the anniversary of Christ's crucifixion. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia the origin of the term Good is not clear:
Some say it is from "God's Friday" (Gottes Freitag); others maintain that it is from the German Gute Freitag, and not specially English. Sometimes, too, the day was called Long Friday by the Anglo-Saxons.
Hoping for a great Good Friday, today. Meeting Ruby Jung to discuss publishing her late husband's essays as a book -- something I said I'd do at Jim's funeral a year ago. Haven't done much yet, except for retyping his first published essay. Today, we'll choose the other essays to include, selected from the 7 annual editions of his Waterman & Hill-Traveler's Companion. Jim was a fine writer, and his pithy explanations of complex phenomena is unequaled in Southern Illinois nature writing.

Earlier this week, I got together with the guy who introduced to Jim three decades ago. A guy who at the time drove a bus for the transportation service, but now has risen to become the marketing maven of SIU. Guess who? We drank some beer at Pinch Penny and got into a heated exchange about the meaning of the new SIUC image ads, with the tag: There are # stories, what's yours? I tried to find the ad at the SalukiDawgs YouTube, without success.

It's also been a week of meeting Coles: with Brad, the Mayor (about the City's possible participation in a city-wide informational website); and Megan at Main Street about the Town Square art fair this Spring, and Melissa Cole in England, who loves great beer.

The great Meredith Rhodes also met with me last week -- to discuss the Chamber's participation in this year's Bike 2 Work Day. She says she'll ride herself, and publicize the event to members. Since Rhodes is such a Beatles fan, like me, we're thinking this years event can have Beatles theme, and Chamber can provide "Tickets to Ride" at downtown businesses.

Other projects still spin away, and new ones appear. Just bought a new digital camera to replace my trusty Canon Powershot, which has seen better days. Got a great deal on a 7.0 mega pixel camera at Aldi! Will try the video feature today, and upload something over the weekend.

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