Bowling for Kids Sake update

I wanted to thank everyone for their generous donations and continuing support of Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

Our bowling event was this past Saturday. We bowled the first session of the “Community Bowl.” It was a packed house and our session raised about $14,000. By the end of our session they had raised $43,000 with 11 more sessions to go! With your generous donations, Cathy and I raised $450, very close to my personal goal. We’ll know next Monday if the organization reached their goal for the year.

With your help, BB/BS will be able to continue to provide adult mentoring matches for 6-17 year old youth in Monroe and Owen Counties. Approximately 1/4th of their annual operating funds comes from the "Bowl for Kids Sake."

For more information, check out the following web sites:
Big Brother/Big Sisters of America
Big Brothers/Big Sisters of South Central Indiana
Bowling for Kids Sake

Weekend Events

Cathy and I had an event filled weekend!

• We got to meet MacKenzie McElwee for the first time. The youngest McElwee cousin is only about 2 weeks old. We met her while celebrating her grandmother's 69th birthday.
• We were part of the largest crowd to ever attend an IU women's basketball game. The crowd of 10,022 helped to ensure that Vera Bradley Designs Corporation will donate $10,000 for breast cancer research. Unfortunately, the crowd wasn't enough to ensure an IU victory as the Hoosiers fell to the Purdue Boilermakers 58 to 62 in overtime.
• Finally, we found out that Cathy's favorite resturant, Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar, will be opening their Bloomington location on Sunday, February 27th. Although to us it will always be BW-3, or even B-Dubs.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Movie?

I just saw that there is going to be a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie. It opens on April 29th. It's based on a series of books by the late Douglas Adams that was one of my favorites as a kid. Check them out on Amazon.com. Hum....... could be interesting, just hope it doesn't stink.

U2, Wilco sweep Grammys

Two of my favorite bands, U2 and Wilco, won Grammy awards last night in every category for which they were nominated. Having been twice in the past for their collaborations with Billy Bragg on never finished Woody Guthrie songs, Wilco brought home their first two Grammys. They won for Best Alternative Music Album for their "A ghost is born" album. Past winners in this category have been R.E.M., Tom Waits, Radiohead, Beck, Nirvana and even U2(for "Zooropa"?!)! They also won Best Recording Package along with their art directors Peter Buchanan-Smith & Dan Nadel. I guess people like the "egg!"


U2 won three Grammys bringing their all time total to a phenomenal 17 (tied for 8th overall with Alison Krauss & Ray Charles)! They won in the Best Rock Performance By a Duo or Group With Vocal, Best Rock Song (songwriters award) and Best Short Form Music Video categories, all for their single "Vertigo." Their album "How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" was not released in time to be eligible for this year's Grammys. U2 also gave a bitter sweet performance of "Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own" which Bono dedicated to his late father. You can see video of their performance on this web site. It was a great night of music, well except for that abysmal group performance of the Beetle's "Across the Universe."

Eat pizza, support local girls

Pizza Queen Restaurant, located at 1909 S. Walnut St. in Bloomington, is sponsoring a fundraiser for Girls Incorporated of Monroe County on Saturday, February 12 from 3 p.m. to midnight. During this time, Pizza Queen will donate 25% of its profits from dine-in, carry-out, and delivery purchases to Girls Incorporated. A coupon must be presented at the time of purchase. You can download a coupon from the one from the Girls Inc. Website. Call to place an order at 336-0000.

In addition to Pizza Queen's contribution, Wal-Mart will match this amount up to $1,000. Proceeds from this fundraiser will be used to support the Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Girls Inc. 3rd annual Girls Weekend Retreat.

The Roaches are Multiplying!

Cathy and I are proud to announce that we're expecting a baby! Her due date is September 13th. We went to her first ultrasound on Friday, January 28th and got to see and hear the baby's heart beat. Everything looked great! If you want to see copies of the ultrasound pictures, go to our dotPhoto.com photo album.

Ok, so that headline was really cheesy, but it was on my birth announcements in 1975. Well, it was the 70s.

Congratulations to the Griggs'

Wow! Another baby! Brown, Hill, Beard, McElwee and now Griggs. Ben and Sara Griggs were proud to announce today the arrival of Kendall Grace Griggs. She was born yesterday, weighed in at 8lb 9oz and is 20'' long. Conner and Drew are now both big brothers. Ben reports that "Both mother and baby are resting comfortably".

Send the proud parents an e-mail at ben AT bengriggs DOT com or check out his web site at bengriggs.com

Happy Groundhog Day

America's second favorite unofficial holiday, right after Super Bowl Sunday. Today Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on Gobblers Knob in Punxsutawney, PA. We're in for six more weeks of winter. No wonder he saw his shadow with all those TV cameras and their lights!

Congratulations to the McElwees!

Mike and Julie McElwee were proud to annouce the birth of their first child on Tuesday. MacKenzie Faith McElwee was born yesturday in Indianapolis. Mike reports that mother and daughter are doing great. MacKenzie is Frances McElwee's ninth grandchild.

Well, that didn't last long

Maybe he didn't like Marvin's or maybe the lure of a 3-8 team with no tradition was more than he could turn down. After only one season, Bill Lynch has decided to leave the friendly confines of Blackstock Stadium for IU's Memorial Stadium. In his one year as DePauw's head football coach, Lynch had an 8-2 record, won the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, received the SCAC Co-Coach of the Year award, had the 2nd best single-season per game rushing total (254.6 yards) in school history and most importantly, returned the Monon Bell to Greencastle after a three year absence.

Lynch will serve as IU's assistant head coach/offensive coordinator/tight ends coach. Before coaching at DePauw, Lynch was the head coach at Ball State from 1995 to 2002. Before coaching that he was Butler University head coach from 1985-1995, quarterbacks coach of the Orlando Renegades of the United States Football League (USFL) in 1985 and a quarterbacks/offensive coordinator at Northern Illinois in 1984.

Well, not everyone can have the staying power of Coach Nick Mourouzis, who finished his storied career at DePauw in 2003 after 23 years, a 138-87-4 record and an 11-11-1 record in Monon Bell games.

For more information on Bill , go to the Indiana University Athletics Football News page or the DePauw Athletics news page.

Three new Ryan Adams albums in 2005

According to www.ryan-adams.com, the former Whiskeytown singer will release three new albums in 2005, proving once again he is the most prolific songwriter in rock.

The first is scheduled to drop on April 19th. It's a double album titled "Cold Roses" and credited to "Ryan Adams & The Cardinals." Ryan has done work with various loosely collaborated "bands" over the years, most notably the "Pink Hearts" that he recorded several demos with. The other 2 albums are tentatively titled "Jacksonville" & "29" but the web site doesn't give any more details.