Fat Tuesday

Quote of the Day:
The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.
—James Branch Cabell, novelist, in The Silver Stallion. Quoted by  Simon J.  Dahlman in the upcoming May issue of Christian Standard in his monthly feature, "Seen and Heard."

Pictures of the Day:
I snapped pictures of some proof pages from the April issue of Christian Standard, which we send to
the printer tomorrow. These are some of the best articles in the issue. I'm looking forward to seeing reactions to it. (I'm even more looking forward to seeing reactions to several pieces in the March issue, which is just now in readers' hands.)
Meanwhile, we had our second meeting with our design consultant Scott Ryan to choose art and layout directions for the May issue (thus the quote above). Scott designed the cover on the April issue, pictured here. The photo is by Tom Patrick, taken at the North American Christian Convention in Louisville last summer.
May's issue will be themed, "I Love the Church!" with a lead article by Bob Russell and his picture on the cover.
I decided this year to try going vegetarian during Lent (except maybe when someone has us for dinner--I'm not going to inflict my choice on them; or maybe when we have someone here for dinner--not everyone LIKES bean burritos!). I had to stop on the way to work this morning to pick up a frozen entree for lunch, and since tomorrow is the beginning of my "fast," my little nod to Mardi Gras was to get an entree with turkey in it! Yeah, I know, Fat Tuesday means much more to many others.

Choose Your Critics Wisely

Quote of the Day:
A sure fire way to spiral into darkness is to listen to your critics or to obsess on pleasing people you barely know. Most of us have people in our lives who really know us and love us despite our flaws. Let them have more sway over your emotions than those who don't really know you at all. It really can be a choice. Decide who is worthy of affecting your emotions... and who isn't.
—Joe Boyd, in "7 Ways to Get Happy This Year" at Huffington Post

Laugh of the Day: Thanks to Vicki Cherry for giving me an outloud chuckle via her Facebook post:

 

 Second Quote of the Day:

It's not often that our home thermostat is set 70 degrees higher than the outside temperature! I drove by a Duke Energy building this morning and I swear I heard cash registers dinging inside.

—Chad Showalter, posting on Facebook

Pictures of the Day:

First, a proof of the cover for the March Christian Standard. Our art consultant and design helper, Scott

Ryan, came by today to look over the whole issue one last time before we upload it to the printer tomorrow. The issue should be in the mail next week. Scott created the cover for this issue.

Second, a snapshot of the yummy casserole Evelyn made for supper: scalloped potatoes with ham. I do believe that Christmas ham was worth it just to have the leftovers to make this wonderful dish. And we have enough casserole left to enjoy another time this week!

Sunday, Workday, Funday

We attended the 9:00 service this morning. Drew Sherman, minister at Compass Christian Church in Colleyville, Texas, was our guest speaker. He ministers where Trevor DeVage was associate for 11 years, and I know Trevor was delighted to be with him this weekend. We were pleased too, because he brought us a WONDERFUL sermon on the life of David, challenging us to allow ourselves to be used by God as David was.
We had breakfast at Marie's Scrambler. The food is fine, but in spite of the fact that the place is always packed, I just can't convince myself that it's a place I really like. It had been a long time since we'd been there, so I decided to give it another try, but my feelings about the place haven't changed.

The proof page for our November cover. Scott Ryan designed it, and
we think it will attract attention.

Mostly what I did this afternoon is read the proof for the November issue of Christian Standard, which goes to the printer Wednesday. For some reason, I've gotten a little behind this month; it's been awhile since I've read proof on a Sunday afternoon.
The November issue will center mainly on missions; we'll distribute it at ICOM in November. There's some really good stuff in it! :-)
I was at it from about 1:00 till about 5:00, with a nice break to talk with Geoff on the phone somewhere there in the middle. Jennifer called not long after I was finished, and we had a nice visit with her too. They're each involved in meaningful and important things. Geoff is editing his doctoral dissertation proposal down to the right word length before emailing it tonight. He and Lisa have found a new, larger apartment they'll move to on October 16. Matt and Jen are making final preparations for a 10-day trip to India to speak at a huge youth conference sponsored by Central India Christian Mission. They leave October 7.

Evelyn and I ate butternut squash soup from Costco for supper and watched the season premier of "60 Minutes." If we can stay awake, we'll watch PBS's "Foyle's War" at 9:00 before bedtime

.

Checkin', Tweakin', Meetin'

Jim Nieman and Scott Ryan checked out a QR code in the proof to see if it was readable.

Next week we give the June issue of ChristianStandard to the printer, and today we invited Scott Ryan, our art and design consultant, to come look at the proof of the whole issue to suggest any tweaks or changes he'd suggest to make it look better. He had already given us good advice, and he (and we) are pretty pleased with the way it's turning out. 

I spent much of the morning finishing reading the proof. (I had spent about an equal amount of time with it yesterday, suggesting some repaginations and a couple of other changes to the layout that Jim completed yesterday afternoon and this morning before Scott arrived.) Late copy--some cover copy, the "coming next month" copy, and a couple little changes here and there--all that was part of the day yesterday afternoon and this morning. This afternoon I worked on the editorial for the issue, getting all the way to a draft I'll read in the morning to see if it makes sense.
Shawn McMullen and I attended a meeting with Stephanie Woeste and Jared Alexander this afternoon to talk about the possibility of a monthly presentation to readers and potential readers via a service on the web called BlogTalkRadio. We'll see if we'll be hosting guests on the Internet sometime soon!

Little Blessings for a Good Day

I diligently packed my lunch last night and then ran off without it this morning. But it was a good day to run out for lunch: sunny and warm. When I walked to my car, I noticed a food truck parked at a sidewalk path nearby. Bones' Burgers. I decided to investigate and discovered the guy was selling more than hamburgers. He offered a salmon burger and a choose-your-own-fillings gourmet grilled cheese option. I chose the special of the day: smoked bacon, munster cheese, and thin-sliced Granny Smith apples--all on fresh made, thick-sliced rosemary bread. Very tasty! I decided to try the sweet potato fries to go with it. I ate 'em all, but it was a big helping. Not only were they seasoned with sea salt but also with pepper or some other spice. They had a kick to 'em. But I ate 'em! It was wonderful standing in the sun waiting for the sandwich, and I ran back down after I ate to snap a picture of the food truck.

Soon afterwards, Scott Ryan came over to help us with design and art in our June issue. He was very pleased with the cover that had been designed by Plain Joe Studios (we are too!), and he gave us some tips for several ways we can make the issue work. He noticed my new camera on the desk and wanted to see it and learn all about it. I showed him the 180-degree flip-up LCD screen that lets you take your own picture, and we decided to give it a try.

This evening Evelyn and I mowed grass: she did half before supper and I finished afterwards. That's the 2nd mowing of the season so far. My car thermometer said 82 degrees on the way home. The grass is green and beautiful in response.

Keep 'em Coming!

We received the advance sample copies of our April issue today. Folks will be receiving them in the mail next week. Meanwhile, yesterday Jim Nieman and I met with former employee Scott Ryan who's going to help us with some art choices and design work for our May issue. Scott left us last year to go work as a designer with Frontgate over in West Chester. We met him at Barnes and Noble yesterday and we brainstormed some art choices together, surveying the stock photos on my laptop via B&N's wi-fi.

Men (and Women!) in Black and Other Nice Things

Most fun of the day: the whole office dressing in black in honor of Scott Ryan's last day at Standard. (Scott's the guy with the beard, in the center, below.) Scott, a friend and designer who's been with us 15 years, is leaving to do design work at Frontgate. To show him we love him, we dressed like he ALWAYS dresses: black shirt and black pants. Note the guy on the left, our colleague and buddy Dale Reeves who not only imitated the outfit but the beard and sideburns too!
(It's difficult to get a good picture of 40 people, so I'm just posting both pictures, since different folks shine in different shots.)

Best laugh of the day: Reading Jennifer's blog post. Most of my Facebook friends also read her blog, but if you haven't, you should. Below is the picture she posted along with all her "kids say the darndest things" quotes.

Nicest surprise of the day: All the folks who "liked" or commented on Evelyn's and my reciprocal posts to celebrate our anniversary today. 39 years, wow! Not only was it gratifying to read all the congratulations, but also challenging to live up to the nice things they said about us! Wendy has a spiffy new camera, and she took our picture for our anniversary this evening.

Trust a Smiling Editor?

Paul Williams was in the office today. I think I took his picture with Matt Lockhart the last time he was in. I promise not to take your picture every time you come to the office, Paul! But this one is for a special purpose. Soon we'll distribute  a news release to announce the advent of Christian Standard becoming a monthly magazine, effective with the September issue. The publicist preparing the release (Joni Baker) said we need an image, and I humbly suggested that maybe a picture of the editor(s) would be as interesting as another magazine cover. And our marketing manager agreed. So . . . here we are. Scott Ryan from our office took the shot. Isn't he a good photographer?!
Before and after the photo shoot, Paul and I brainstormed article and theme possibilities for future issues. Oh yeah, we came up with some good ones!