Newtown tragedy and rejoicing?

This week in Advent was Gaudete Sunday, Latin for rejoice. How are we to rejoice in light of this senseless tragedy? This has been a heart wrenching week filled with funerals.

As Catholics we rejoice this third week in advent because regardless how dark the world is or has become, we have the assurance that the dark will never and can never conquer the light. That is part of our rejoicing in this tough week as Americans.

A full moon in Dallas

Did you see the full moon during the Dallas-Steeler's game on Sunday? In my years of watching football, this was a first.

St Rose of Lima Evacuated

Really?

Some idiot threatened this Church where the shooter, his mother and 8 tiny victims were parishioners. The church was evacuated as someone threatened to shoot those attending the noon mass. As if the pastor didn't already have enough grief of his own as well as the grief of the families and community to contend with someone feels it necessary to do that.

What does one do with this whole Connecticut shooting incident? So many tiny victims makes your heart  just wretch. I heard one comment from the mainstream media that just made me stop in my tracks:

'We need to get to a point in this country where we value life"

Amen brother. Amen.

Hold the cake!

The Peach pit, announced "Bring on the CAKE!" My skinny jeans finally fit!

The Peach pit is a pixie stick and tiny. She should be in size 10-12's but she wears kids 8 skinny jeans and they still fall off her butt. She was so excited when her size 8 slims finally seemed to fit her that she called for a round of cake.

Later on when I told her to pull up her jeans, cause we all need to say no to crack, she says "Hold the cake!"

I must confess

I am quite honest in the sacrament of confession. I need a good soul baring every couple of weeks so a while back I walked into the Cathedral and waited my turn to see my confessor.

There is an absolutely cool thing about confession. Everyone goes. Popes, priests, Supreme Court Justices (Antonin Scalia, John Roberts to name a few), actors (Jim Caviezel ), construction workers and irreverently pious people do it often. This particular day I waited for a construction worker to make his confession. I can't tell you with what joy I approach the sacrament after I saw him come out. Honestly, here was an ordinary guy working construction, hard working man and he's walking out of the confessional holding his hard-hat and going off to work, holier - wow, just awesome.

So I go in, kneel and within 30 seconds the priest knows my state in life-married with kids, vocation, work and when the last time was since my last confession. Very important things to know so he can better know where I'm coming from and where I am spiritually. What followed was absolutely transforming. I was honest, brutally honest as usual with my struggles and how frustrated I have been with my anger, how it almost defines me. If there is one all important thing about confession - it's that you need to be honest. You can't be hiding things and expect awesomeness to follow.

So after my 30 seconds of who I am and another 30 of where I am spiritually, he sighed. He actually sighed! Now as a frequent confessee I can tell you I get this occasionally. This time it wasn't a sigh of exasperation - I get that too. It was a sigh of "Ah, we're actually going to discuss things of substance today!" It's almost as if he had been waiting for me because he needed to have this discussion as much as I did.

And we did! We talked about deep but simple spiritual facts. In fact I don't think he told me anything much different than what he would have told a person with a same-sex attraction - You're feelings don't define you, who you are. We talked about the discernment of spirits. It's a delicate thing this discernment of spirits.

Anger is an emotion, albeit a very strong one and dealing with it leaves me exhausted so I need the grace, seemingly constantly. If I'm not struggling with anger then I'm struggling with listlessness - two polar opposites! No wonder I'm a mess!

My confession, continues

On to my confession story which I didn't finish last time:

I have a regular confessor. I find it's helpful to have someone who knows me and my history so he can help me on my journey toward holiness, but I travel a lot. So I visit cathedrals as often as I can and I will avail myself of the priest in the cathedral penitentiary for a sacramental confession. When you see priests standing in line for confession, it's probably a safe bet that it's a good place for a confession.

I have yet to be disappointed. They say advent is a time for waiting but it's not a passive waiting. I wait in hope for Jesus to come into my life but there is activity in that waiting. Why is it that two people can go through the same few weeks of advent and one ends up forever changed and the other observes a passage of time but essentially is the same as they were before advent?

It's like asking why if I place an egg in water to cook does it come out cooked or why does it come out raw? In both cases the substance is the same, water and egg but the catalyst, the heat to boil the water is either present or it is not. In much the same way if I enter into advent without some activity to draw myself closer to Christ, it won't happen. It's not a passive waiting. It's bustling with activity.

My activity centered around the sacrament of confession. More about that tomorrow.

My confession

I was talking to my priest friend last night about a reporter, Catholic, who was held captive and in his 7 yrs of captivity he finally took his Catholic faith seriously. He made his confession to the priest, also imprisoned and it completely changed his life. It had been over 25 years since his last confession but by the time he was done both he and the priest were in tears and those words of healing when his sins were absolved, changed his life. I commented, "Oh, the lengths God will go to reach his people!", "No, doubt" my priest friend commented.

I recall when I would approach the sacrament of confession with hesitation and a bit of fear, but now that I'm in the habit of regular confessions, I can tell when it's time for confession because I get crankier, angry, grumpy, impatient, and foul mouthed. I blame the foul mouth on football. If my team would just win, I would be way more moderate in my speech! Maybe. All too often we think that we don't need to confess our sins. I run into Catholics all the time who don't see the need or they want to write down their sins and burn them but why tell the priest? Excellent question.

I was reading the Pope's new book, Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narrative. In it our pontiff comments about the healing of the paralytic whose friends lowered him from the roof because they couldn't get him through the door. Jesus tells the sick man, "My son, your sins are forgiven" Mk2:5. Our pontiff however, I love his honesty as he comments, "This was the last thing they were concerned about. The paralytic needed to be able to walk, not to be delivered from his sins." However he goes on to say something extraordinarily succint and important, "Man is a relational being. And if his first, fundamental relationship is disturbed - his relationship with God-then nothing else can be truly in order."

Oh, come Emmanuel and get your butt here before my house goes up in flames!

My travel schedule has been a bit insane. I have to admit I checked out here for a while because the best I could do was to just keep afloat. Somehow we've managed to enter into Advent, the most super ridiculously shortest period to wait. Seriously, society doesn't wait for anything. Christmas sales started before Thanksgiving, but for us, we've pulled out the advent wreath. To be perfectly honest, I totally forgot about it.

Monkeyboy. Yes monkeyboy pulled out the advent wreath on the vigil of advent - so the Saturday before the first Sunday in advent (this past Saturday). He was so excited to get the wreath out and set up the candles. Why? So we could sing after meals? Nope but he puts up with the singing, well to be honest we don't really sing, the priest friend is the only one in our house who has a decent voice, the rest of us are aca-crappy, bari-crooners, sopranoscreechy, you get the idea. Monkeyboy got all excited so that he and sister could fight, push, budge their way towards the candle to blow it out after the 'singing'. Oh come oh come Emanuel - No seroiusly, come on and get here because those two are a fire hazard waiting to happen. My consolation is that they'd be able to spit the fire out if and when they knock the candle to the ground. Goodness knows they spit enough trying to blow out the candle so maybe they'd be able to put it out too. I probably shouldn't worry.

Reconciliation

On my last post I commented about how in America you really can't speak politics without the conversation degenerating into arguments. Oh how close the arrow strikes!

I was in New York last week and one of my colleagues commented that his wife and best friend of over 30 years parted ways... over the presidential election.

Now I will grant that I'm not an Obama fan for many reasons.
- his support of abortion
- government funding of abortion, aborifacients (medicine that causes abortion, including birth control meds)
- his belief that government creates jobs (yes government can create jobs, but private sector creates wealth)
- this notion that all our problems will be fixed if we tax the wealthy (It doesn't work except to create animosity and jealousy between the have nots and the have's)
- a health care reform that includes contraceptive drugs mandated to be covered by institutions that have a religious or moral opposition to it (Contraception drugs are also one class of drugs that doesn't treat an illness. It treats a normally functional organ to act abnormally which violates the purpose of medicine - to heal.) A vasectomy is a form of mutilation but is a covered procedure. A vasectomy reversal on the other hand, restores the organs to their normal functional state and is the healing procedure which is the procedure not covered. Does that make sense to anyone?
- his epic fail to reach across a divide because he's full of pride and if you don't agree with him, he gets angry

That being said, he was elected by the majority of the country, by a small fraction but nevertheless by the country. The failure belongs to the country. If we are to change course, it will be through hearts and minds. It will be one person at a time. Do you know why 40 Days for Life has been so successful? Do you know what it is?

40 Days for Life is an organization of people who peaceably pray, fast and give alms twice a year. Well they do this all year but it's organized twice a year. They target abortion facilities. The key is they do something nonsensical by normal standards. They pray, one person at a time outside of an abortion facility. The prayer "warriors" many times don't even know each other but they show up for 40 days to quietly pray and be a presence for the unborn child. They are changing hearts and minds with this nonsensical power of prayer. They are doing this and changing hearts, one heart at a time and not through political muscle.

So for my friends out there disappointed with the presidential election, I say this:
Reconcile with your brothers and sisters, your friends and neighbors. We will get through this because this too shall pass and let this be a reminder not to put your faith in things that pass. Have faith, trust and hope in God. He is good. All the time.

My daily med: You dirty rotten scoundrel

I write about anger quite a bit because I suppose that's what I struggle with the most. I have plenty of other things to work on but anger is a recurring theme in my posts so I was particularly struck by today's reading from Lk 17:11-19, about the ten lepers. It says:
They stood some way off and called to him, "Jeusus! Master! Take pity on us" When he saw them he said, "Go and show your selves to the priests".

As they were going away one of them noticed he was cleansed so he returned, praising God and Jesus comments:
"Were not all ten made clean? The other nine, where are they? It seems none has come back to give praise to God but this foreigner."

First thing is if you don't know, the foreigner was a samaritan, the enemy of the Jews. They avoided each other typically. Imagine one was a republican and the other a democrat. The one thing you don't ever want to discuss with an American is politics. If you are from the other party, forget it, there is no discussion. The talk will denegrate to heated arguments if you are of the opposite thinking. There is no persuasion. There is no understanding. There is bigotry. There is hatred. There are preconceived notions of the other. The one side screams of tolerance, yet they are intolerant of those who disagree with them resorting ultimately to prejudice. The other side is no better, presuming the heart and mind of the other, discounting their beliefs and resorting also to prejudice. Yet, when they are threatened, when they are both equally affected, they come together to seek help.They rebuild for example, just like they are doing in New York city.

The other thing about the lepers is that they were required to announce their presence to give others the opportunity to flee ahead of them because their disease was seen as contagious and no one wanted it. This is why they stand far off from Jesus. Even today leprosy is incurable. It can be controlled now with hygiene but there is no cure. Jesus frees them but only the foreigner returns to praise God. Was Jesus angry that only one returned? If he was, his anger turned towards disappointment.

In those who can't control their anger, it's usually the other way around. See how when God is not the center of your universe, you get all turned around? Those who can't seem to manage their anger will find that their disappointment turns to anger. Jesus on the other hand can't resist a cry for pity. The soul in need is an obligation on his part to help. He doesn't need to be convinced. His heart is moved by people's need. Love can't hold back when it sees people in need.

The leper's cry for help is in stark contrast to the Pharisees who stubbornly refuse to call Jesus master. Who refuse his help because they were strong, healthy, talented and self-sufficient. The lepers had no other alternative but to acknowledge their utter helplessness. As a result they received the transforming grace of God. The Pharisees in fact, don't even see their error and on the contrary, consider themselves in communion with God. This alone should make us stop and consider our own relationship with the Lord.

I wonder at it all with simple gratitude.

In your will is my peace

Your will. Not mine. My will makes me angry when things don't turn out the way I want them.
I tried to go to mass this morning. I'm traveling, out of the country again and found a beautiful cathedral with 7am mass. After finding the place and parking I made my way to the chapel. The doors were locked.
I walked around the cathedral thinking perhaps I had the wrong door. After I walked around the entire blocks surrounding the cathedral (it was a large cathedral) I ended up back where I started and knocked on the parish office doors. Apparently the doors I tried were the right ones and he told me to try again but by this point it was 7:15 and mass was well underway.

I tried again, locked again and I just walked away. I was pretty hot when I left. Here I am trying my best to make it to mass. Why? Honestly, because I need Jesus every day and when I don't have an opportunity to see him, to have him: body, blood, soul and divinity into my person then it's just a pitiful day. He orients me in the right direction every single time. So I was more than disappointed that I had to walk away without the eucharist.

Then I thought, "in your will is my peace". Sometimes things don't turn out the way we plan or the way we would like. The morning prayer was from Job:

"Naked I came forth from my mother's womb,
and naked I shall go back again.
The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
blessed be the name of the Lord!
We accept good things from God;
and should we not accept evil?"

That is today's prayer. You can't make this up folks! Today when the election results showed that the headlines are that Abortion, Gay Marriage and Marijuana won in the election,  (I'm out of the country and this is what made the headlines! And people here are rejoicing.) this was the morning prayer. I smiled. Our God is good. All the time.

Yes, we do accept good things from God and we should also accept the evil things. We don't have to like them and we don't have to approve them but we do accept them as much as He permits them.

One thing to bear in mind is that while Job accepted the evil, he never, ever, ever gave up. In the end he was vindicated. Perhaps we too need to be reminded to never give up when faced with evils.

Worst presidential yard sign

Seriously? This is the best the camp could come up with for a yard sign? Nothing conveys stagnation like something looking like it just came out of the lagoon for the log ride. Really guys? Whose bright idea was this? These yard signs are the same color as my aunt's pool in Mexico. She'd say, "there's nothing wrong with the pool. Hop in". I went nowhere near that pool.

If I was an Obama supporter, I'd be embarrassed to display this sign in my yard. I live in a swing state in a left leaning district and I was surprised by how few Obama signs I've seen displayed. With these pukey colored signs, I guess I'm no longer surprised why.

The President of the United States of America and the log ride. Hmmm, is that REALLY the association you want to make. Just sayin'... epic fail

What's wrong with Obama?

What's not wrong? There is everything in the world wrong!

There has been this practice in the past few years to talk about Obama like he's the guy next door. He's the guy you can sit and drink beer with while watching the game. Is there anything wrong with that?

The commentators on the news, in the blogs, in newspapers, in his own campaign and in his own office make him be the guy next door. He's worked so hard to be the guy next door that he's forgotten what it means to be President of the United States of America.

This little fact hit home while I was traveling abroad and reading the international papers, watching international news and hearing or reading, "Mr. Obama spoke today at....", "Today in the presidential debate, Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney....".

To which I responded, "Oh, hell no. Oh NO you didn't!"

I don't care if you like the President. I don't care if you are his gardener, his cook, his staff, the beat reporter or his adversary, he is the leader of the free world and he should be referred to as "Mr. President" or "President Obama". I've noticed, it's his adversaries who DO refer to him as "President Obama". They GET it!

I asked my friends in Europe, "When did you EVER hear "Mr. Reagan" or "Mr. Clinton" in the news, in speech or in written form?" They replied that the very sound of it was weird. They couldn't even fathom President Clinton being referred to as "Mr. Clinton".

And yet, "Mr. Obama" is acceptable to everyone? Why? I don't think anyone's noticed because it's been a gradual decline. The fact that this behavior has persisted tells me, this man does not understand the magnitude of the Office he holds. He does not have any respect for it either. This man has degraded the office of the presidency and as indecent as President Clinton was in his personal activity in the oval office, that's saying quite a lot. President Clinton's actions were embarrassing for sure. He understood the magnitude of the Office but he lacked self control. In the end President Clinton embarrassed himself, while in office but NOT the office. He knew better behavior was demanded of him, he just didn't have the discipline needed to live up to the task.

When I graduated with my PhD, the scariest word I ever heard was when people said "Doctor" before my name. The first time I heard "Doctor" and saw them looking at me expecting an answer, I thought "Oh, crud. They are going to expect me to know something." It was the scariest and most humbling thing to hear that my services are required and I need to be careful what I do, say and how I behave because of that position.

President Obama doesn't get that, and I don't think he ever has. He's great at marketing. He's great at organizing, but he's lousy at being the leader of the free world. I honestly don't think he believes America is great. I think he thinks America needs to be like everybody else and she needs to be liked and that to him means her leader has a beer with people or makes time in his schedule to appear on 'The View' while world leaders are told the President's schedule is full so they will talk to the Secretary of State instead.
Now that's embarrassing.

Finally real ref's

So we were in Vegas when the real Zebra's came back to the NFL. I've never been so happy to see real zebra's on the field. It makes my little sports heart go flitter flutter.

I'm so glad they're back. Watching the game and not the ref's was just fabulous. Watching the Brown's implode again was less than fabulous but they have some potential at least. Trent Richardson reminds me of the shrimp, Emmitt Smith.

My sister in law would always yell during the Cowboy games, "Give it to the shrimp! Give it to the shrimp!" which just always made me laugh but Richardson is the first running back that I can honestly say reminds me of the shrimp. I'm looking forward to watching him blossom.

My posts haven't been fast and furious

No, not at all. In fact they've been few and far between. I have counted up, on one hand in fact how many days I will be home in October, 4. Four whole days! It's a little higher if I count weekends, 6. Six full days I'll be sleeping in the comfort of my bed. 

I think dry cleaning features very prominently in my future and work may be buying me some travel pillows. 

The space ready MRI

The new frontier: Space ready MRI's, read all about it!

Fifty Shades of crap!

I mistakenly picked up this book in the airport thinking it was a mystery novel I had heard about that was suppose to be good.

It's a sexually graphic novel of a bondage themed business arrangement between two seemingly consenting individuals. It's pornographic and fairly boring aside from just plain odd. I ended up trashing it once I figured the only mystery was why this trash was on the bestseller's list. Is this what women's liberation looks like? Is this the fantasy women want? 

Apparently women are buying this trash so perhaps the answer is maybe.

I'm very ashamed of my gender. We are idiots or a select group of us are. 

Bill Bennet had a good analysis of what the whole hookup culture has done to women and it has not uplifted us. Nope, it degrades us and makes a person an object to desire and do with as one pleases. I've heard the arguments that the story ends in redemption and culminates into some semblance of self-sacrificial love. Interesting. So the climax so to speak isn't the erotic climax but the self-sacrificial climax. The erotic climaxes just keeps you in the story plugging along until you reach the real climax of what love actually is and what each of us truly yearns for, that one who will give up their own interests even to the point of death for the good of the other.

This type of material aside from exploring every crack and crevice of erotic pleasure or pain is addictive precisely because it does not satisfy. You'll want more and more of it to try to satisfy when what you really yearn for is found only in the opposite direction of where you are endlessly trapped. That is why I pitched the book, well that and I looked over at my daughter in the airplane seat next to me and decided this material was dangerous to her innocence and mine. I treasure her innocence and it's my job to protect it until such a time it becomes her job or her husband's.

And for the record, this was one of the trilogy books I was looking for and still haven't read:

Replacement Refs

Anyone catch Gripe and Mike on ESPN? They had this hilarious recording of "Roger Goodell's voicemail" . If you haven't heard it, you should. It's stellar, and then I also found this. Enjoy!

My family is bat crap crazy!

Those were the first words out of husband's mouth this morning.

Well actually it was, "Good morning gorgeous!" which just wrapped me in a blanket of warmth this chilly morning. I never thought anyone could love me as much as my husband does me and I wonder constantly, "Why would anyone love me??", but he does and I'm just grateful. Sometimes it's best not to wonder and just go straight to gratitude.

His second sentence was the today's blog title. 

Mom and dad got moved into assisted living on Monday. It's been stressful for all involved. He said he has a hard time being upset with his dad because he is just bat crap crazy at this point. He was an MP in the Army and the Director for medicare fraud in his career so he's been used to people taking his orders. He's had a hard time adjusting to an assisted living place. On day 2 he got moved into the memory care lock down unit because he took off out the door and couldn't explain to anyone where he was or where he was going by the time they caught him walking the streets. He's been angry and verbally abusive to mom so having him in lock-down is probably a good thing.

You might recall husband went down there last year to try to get them in assisted living but everyone fought him on it so in the end he put it all back in God's hands and came back home. So mom says yesterday "we probably should have gone into assisted living a few years ago" - You think? What a novel idea!

Well he has a hard time being upset with her too because as he said, "She's just crap crazy! The bats are coming!", which made me giggle.

I suppose it's good that we can laugh at the situation.

Well the interesting part of the situation for me came when he explained the God moment that happened:

Dad gets up every morning at 4 am. He has for years. We'd been praying for this whole situation of course and for moving day because we knew it would be stressful. Moving day came and the movers showed up to box up and load up the furniture. Dad was asleep. He didn't wake up until close to 8am by which time he wondered, "what the @#?@?". It all went pants at that point! Dad was up in arms why people were in his house taking his stuff. So as they calmed him, the movers moved the bedroom and boxed up that area because he was now out of bed! How convenient! 

It was chaotic and stressful but it was beautifully orchestrated in only a way God is able to do. I recall in each of our moves, it happened relatively quickly. There wasn't a whole lot of advanced notice and it always seemed a bit chaotic but in the chaos there was always this beautiful orchestrations of events that you just can't plan. That's where trust is so important. Trusting God's plan for our lives doesn't mean that things will turn out like we want or will be stress free but it does mean that he will be there in the midst of it. Although it was stressful in the midst of it, husband said it was the best thing that could have happened because everything got moved so easily, even the temper tantrum.

Evangelical Atheists

Do you ever notice the folks who espouse tolerance never actually practice it?

As a general disclaimer, I don't believe in tolerance. To tolerate something is to endure or permit (not resist) the action (of a drug or food) without side effects/discomfort or put up with something less than ideal. It's putting up with stuff! It's not reaching towards perfection but instead accepting and yearning for less than perfect. Honestly does that make sense to anyone? People really get excited about that? What kind of people have we become that this is the great ideal?

Shouldn't we reach for excellence? Shouldn't we shoot for the moon because even if we miss we'll end up among the stars?We shouldn't tolerate illiteracy, poverty, injustices or evil. We sometimes disagree on what is evil. We paint broad strokes on what is evil and what is not. The devil's in the details. Yes he is! He'll confuse you blind until you can't tell what is right or wrong because it's under the beautiful guise of tolerance.

I find it funny that women who disagree with the thought of God being referred to as "He or Father", never once complain about referring to the devil as "he" but I digress. My whole purpose on introducing the tolerance topic is that the same people that espouse tolerance certainly can't practice it.

I travel a lot and I eat a lot, typically out. I enjoy meals. I love to plan my next meal as I'm enjoying my current meal. It's a small joy of mine. When I eat, regardless of my location, I pray. I make the sign of the cross and say my silent request to God, thanking him for the food, for my family for the company that joins me for my meal and for all the good things he's done for me. I ask him to bless all those around me and then I eat. I've grown accustomed to this pre-meal ritual of bowing my head and taking a moment in silence to orient myself to the greatest good. In my travels I ran across an evangelical atheist who took exception to my pre-meal silent ritual. I was immediately outed as a Christian and my denomination had to be known. I explained my faith was not a denomination. (Catholicism is not a denomination but just about everything else is because at some point other Christians broke from the Catholic church and thus making those religions denominations.) I was then blamed from everything from Pope Pius XII's outright assistance to the nazi's - lies(all of them) to the existence of Jesus and the evil and vicissitudes of the Pope. I listened quite politely, refraining from partaking of my grilled eggplant and proceeded to agree to disagree. I apologized that this was their thought on the matters but oh no, it wasn't over. It was only the beginning. The berating continued through dinner, dessert, taxi and I thanked God we were going separate ways after that but it resumed again the following day during the meeting breaks.

You make one little sign of the cross and try to thank God and the next thing you know, someone who professed to tolerate just about anything couldn't tolerate my reverence and love of God. For my part I was quite happy actually to sit there and delay my meal in order to be berated. That's the mark of the Christian. It's not that we are right or that we argue better or that we know more, or have more. It's that we love our neighbor even when our neighbor says or does disparaging things about our faith or mocks our faith.

It's a beautiful day!

Good morning beautiful! How are you?

Finland, Finland, Finland

The country where I quite like to be.

It's quite beautiful in Finland. I am looking forward to another Finnish mass on Sunday to add to my collection of mass celebrations in other countries.

Helen Gurley Brown vs Nellie Grey

I have been traveling in and out of the country. While on my travels I ran across this article in USA Today.

I was floored because
- it was essentially a piece about the differences about abortion rights vs human rights
- it was an article posted in USA today
- it was very well articulated
- it was honest and truthful avoiding emotional attacks or personal insults
- the author was in a sense detached from the entanglements that can snare people when you discuss this subject

Let's face it, this issue gets people riled up regardless what side you take. The abortion advocates can be just as mean and nasty as some of your more lunatic human rights advocate. Recently though I have noticed this shift in the human rights activists. In all honesty I think more people have joined the cause. These are the ones who have stayed away because of the stigma attached to the human rights advocates, the outlandish ones. More and more women who've had abortions have come out regretting their actions. I've met a few and their stories are heartbreaking. I tell them how much they are loved. If a fallen being like me can reach out in compassion to them and hurt for their pain, how much more must God love them?

Finally though I was floored by who wrote it, mainly because of the author's detachment. I thought to myself, how much have they grown and how much has that tune changed?

Then I was just amazed and very very proud.

Animal prayer

For your amusement

Redneck Physics

you might be a redneck if ....you've used a bucket for a headcoil

"Crank her up!"

Mrs. Romney

We at the IP don't generally vote, yes, please don't tell Padre Pio because I'd be in a whole mess of trouble. My husband hasn't missed an election probably ever and me I rarely watch or listen to political shtuff. I don't think I voted in the last election because I didn't bother to get my voters registration card. Generally I avoid it like the plague unless there's something that strikes my attention. Mrs. Romney got my attention.

Now in actuality I didn't watch the convention last night. I was working and trying to watch sports. I ran across the convention while she was speaking and it took me less than 1 minutes to figure out she's the real deal. I think I watched her for a total of 40 seconds, Christie for 15 seconds and Santorum for maybe 90 seconds - what can I say I was enthralled by the blue of his tie and I have a short attention span which is why I like sports.

Take football, it takes 3 hours to play 60 minutes of ball. Why does it take so long? Well there are lots of pauses: timeouts, ball spots, huddles, changes, halftime, tv timeouts. You don't have to pay attention to the whole thing, just key moments. So I watch in spurts and get the key moments. It's a gift.

So in my 40 seconds I figured out Mrs. Romney is genuine, actually that took less than 10 seconds. She's likeable and endearing.  Will it get me to vote for Mr. Romney? It'll make me take another look and believe me at this point I don't want to look at either of those 2 jokers (Romney/Obama) because I look at them and the only difference I see is one is white and the other is wheat but they are the same, essentially. Mrs. Romney made me consider that he's not white, he's complicated and THAT I get and understand. Also that's endearing. So I will look again... in 15 second spurts and this time I might even try to find stuff out about him.

Hotels!

Why is it that the more expensive the hotel, the less the amenities you receive?

What's up with that? If I'm paying north of $200 for a room, I expect internet access. Seriously, internet access is pretty much a standard staple of hotels these days but the swankier the hotel, the less chance I've had to have internet included. Oh, and no breakfast, really?

Swanky hotels can't throw in breakfast unless you're an elite member? Fortunately I'm an elite member but still I can opt to stay at a less swanky hotel which mind you if it's a new hotel, chances are the digs are better than the "swanky" hotels and I get internet access and breakfast.

So that's why The IP here has been quiet. I've been traveling in hotels where I'm too cheap to pay for internet so I got a lot of work done instead. Hmmm, I bet my company pays those hotels extra to not let me have internet access.

Nipples and Dimples

The peach pit was making verbal notes of ladies swim suits, particularly that many of the two piece variety are barely better than wearing your underwear in public.

Well not thermal underwear, but you get the picture. 

For the record, we have not had any sit down discussions about what garments are and are not appropriate to wear, except for church and mass going attire:

-no flips

- no cutoff shorts

- no shorts (unless it's daily mass)

- no shirts with stains 

- no clothes with holes (This one was established because Monkeyboy tried to get the priest to bless the hole in his sock. This was when he was 10 not when he was oh 6 and it would be understandable. A proud IP moment indeed.)

- no tank tops

But I digress, so back to the Peach and swimwear: She said, "Some of those swimsuits women wear are so tiny! Mom, they barely cover up their (hands gesticulating to her chest) dimples."

Monkeyboy's wife

He and the Peach have been playing the game of Life. If you've never played, it's essentially a game of racking up debt in a make believe world with the end goal of making it to retirement with all sorts of mishaps along the way. Peachy has ended up with busloads of children and Monkeyboy has tried to bypass the mandatory marital stop. Apparently he married in the game of Life and his first question was "how do you get divorced?"

So I asked him: "Marriage is for what?"

I was going for "Life" and the little twerp knew it but I did set him up : "for people who need someone to shrew at them"

Having not shrewed at my husband I can only imagine where he's obtained this gem of knowledge.
He mentioned later that if he did get married his wife would have to be blind, deaf, dumb, mute and have no sense of smell. That was really his only qualification for a wife.

Unfortunate acronym

New Photos from Mars Rover Curiositas

Sent by a friend of mine from Father Z's blog. Too good not to share!

Happy Anniversary

We had a bit of an accident yesterday. We were suppose to go biking. This was how we were going to celebrate our 17th anniversary, that and dinner. Nothing really turned out how I thought it would. I suppose you could say that's a commentary on my life, marriage and family.

One of the buckles securing the bike rack had a major fail and the bikes came tumbling, sliding off the roof, down the back window, crashing glass all over my precious monkeyboy and Peach pit. He sat motionless taking in the situation. She went into full crisis mode complete with shaking, crying and associated hysterics. Papa pulled over as instructed (because my crisis mode is to go by the book, assess the situation, get everyone out of danger and call emergency). The police arrived, stopped traffic and moved the bikes off of the freeway.

Miracle #1 No one was injured (Peach had a small cut) and here I mean no one in the falling bike path, moving cars and all

Miracle #2 No other accidents occurred

Miracle #3 Somehow none of the bikes was damaged and we made it back home with kids, bikes and a renewed sense of gratitude

Perhaps I've mentioned before how I never planned to get married. I didn't think it'd happen and I was ok with that. Trust me when I say that I was not even remotely attracted to my now husband. He wasn't my type but when I went to hug him goodbye at a get together, I just knew. It hit me like the bike rack slamming into the rear window and everything changed.

We were marginal Catholics, and suffering from severe lack of catechesis but nonetheless we married in the church and proceeded to live our birth controlled marital state with a complete carefree attitude. After all we weren't ready for kids. We were "good" people, but the thing is how do  you measure good if you don't have a yardstick? We didn't have a yardstick but we had a notion, an idea, a generally acceptable practical attitude right? Everyone else we knew was on birth control and only freaks did anything else. There was nothing wrong with abortion in my view and so it went until 5 years later we got pregnant with monkeyness and we asked:

"What the hell did we do before we had kids?"

I'm sure we did something. In fact I know we did, but none of it mattered. None of it. It paled in comparison to this little ball of fur with wide eyes looking innocently back at me just like he did when shattered glass rained down all over him. It's that innocence that blows me away. My kids, a decade into their lives, are better catechized than I was when I married. They know why marriage can only ever be between a man and a woman. They know what is good and how it's measured. They know what birth control is and abortion too. They've seen the scared and frightened women walking into abortion offices. No one goes there happy except those who show up to pray for the women, the doctors, the workers. These are amazing people, profoundly saddened for the situation but immensely joyful and peaceful. Only in a Christian can the marriage of those two polar opposites make any sense.   

My life is summed up in our two kids. They are the very best of me, and yet it hasn't turned out at all like I planned and I planned, but I didn't plan for this. I never planned to go from barely Catholic, mostly agnostic totally pro-choice, to fervent in my love for Christ and everything else loving him demands. Living a life in Christ doesn't mean it'll be easy but it does mean when it all comes crashing in all around you, you'll find the courage, strength, peace and grace to make it through. "When" not "if". 

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you."

"When you walk through fire, you will not be burned."

"When", my absolute favorite word in the bible, "when".

Olympic coverage

I think we've lost something as a society. NBC's coverage of the Olympics has made me pause and rethink this whole disastrous coverage.
Are we really a "show me the money" kind of people? Do we really just want the "money shot"? I have to think so because that is what NBC is giving us, except on the weekends when apparently 12 hours live of the worm crawling event is the going thing.

What makes the Olympics so great is that yes, even the ping pong event has the best athlete's in the world - please, I'm sorry I can't even blog that without balking. What's amazing about it is that here you have the best of the best, fighting to win. No one competes on this level because they want to lose or because they are there accidentally. I'm sorry, but no one stumbles onto the Men's rings or into the ladies balance beam competition. Yes, they are talented and want to win. They have years of training (Does anyone really train for ping pong? Oh, sorry table tennis. Nope ping pong.). What's especially captivating about gymnastics is these guys are good for one maybe 2 Olympics because that sport is just brutal. Brutal. Honestly, Phelps could participate in 2-3 more Olympics, if he wanted.

Nevertheless, I want to cheer my country. I don't care if John Orozco finishes 50th (he finished 8th). I want to see him perform or hear it. When my countrymen do well I applaud. When they struggle, I still want to applaud because out of all the billions of people on the planet these people do something they are gifted at and whether they medal or not, that's not the important part. I want them to medal - who doesn't want their country to finish first? The really important part is that they let us come together as a nation in support, in union and thanksgiving that we have such talented and gifted people in our nation and share in their victory, defeat or train wreck as they implode under the pressure.

We would do well to learn from another any other nation struggling to even medal. There you see the difference between them and us. The entire country (practically) knows their athletes, and is aware of the competition, and watch (if they are even able) with expectant admiration. We've become so flipping arrogant and focused on the money shot that everything else comes secondary to it and that is the crux of what irks me about NBC's coverage. It's not NBC. It's our country. It's not the best part of my country but it is part of who we are.That's kind of sad.

Double busted!

 "Going outside in your underpants, while you're putting on your jammie pants!!! That's gotta be at least worth double maybe even triple."

I just can't catch a break. Well at least no one busted me as I came down the stairs but really he's gotta have eyes in the back of his head. He was nowhere near a line of sight. How on earth did he see me? The kids are right, he knows EVERYTHING!

In my defense (yes, I'm defending my trouser-less state) I was just in a hurry to say goodbye to him and give him a kiss, but if now he's going to charge me double or triple because I'm undressed,  um he might want to pause and think it out again. Gee, things have really changed in almost 17 years of marriage.

NBC's coverage of the Olympics SUCKS!

During gymnastics coverage, they don't show scores especially as it get's to deciding the medal. What's up with that? The announcers will comment on the scores but do they even mention the score. Um, oh no. Why bother?

Men's gynmastics - where to even begin? The chicks are pretty and fun to watch but men's gymnastics is relegated to what late night airing? What's up with that?

- No Rings. Not once, not once did they show men on the rings during the team final or qualifications. No one. Zipola. What, is it no longer an event?

- they break away to show coverage of something else then pan back to gymnastic coverage where every medal contender is shown on the rotation but magically they are all on the high bar rotation or floor rotation. Whatever, you guys suck as far as coverage goes.

- what's the point in watching when they don't even show the event, not in it's entirety but can we at least watch the Americans on each event?

This whole tape delay business is just stupid and outdated. Seriously, they show them in the evenings and then completely miss covering events or giving a recap. It's tape delayed, you can't update the story before airing it? Really?

I'm done. Not interested in watching anymore. I'll catch the scores in real time as I'm apparently not going to watch them anyway.

Good help is so hard to get

Working from home has it's advantages:

- easy commute

- cheap labor from house elves

However, I found out why cheap house elf labor is not such a good thing. I had a teleconference yesterday and had the Peach elf refill my cup of coffee. She saunters back 20 minutes later with my coffee, (still hot - amazing those house elves). I take a sip and about spew it right back out. As I was still on a call I couldn't discuss the poisoned coffee trick. After the call I peeked my head out of the office and she perks up "Did you like your coffee!!!!"

That's when I realized maybe she wasn't trying to poison me and she continues "I couldn't get the milk so I used buttermilk. I hope that was ok."

Let the games begin!

Jordan Jovtchev former Olympic medalist and current Olympian will be competing for the individual medal for still rings, undoubtedly the most grueling of men's gymnastics events. He's 39 years old and competing because he's trying to revive gymnastics in his home country of Bulgaria. This is what the Olympics is about and why I love watching.

He's trained in his off-hours, 1/2 hr here and 1/2 hr there because he's President of Bulgaria's gymnastic federation as his day job. Obviously he loves the sport.

It's inpiring to see such dedication, such passion, and such single minded devotion. It reminds me that I'm capable of the same thing, but just maybe not on the rings.

Therapy for Papa

We have this little trick we play on Papa after the Peach comes down.. Papa grabs me a cup of coffee, Peach gives me a hug. Just before Papa turns to hand me my coffee I slightly pull down the Peach jammies to expose her lily white butt to Papa who generally looks away and covers his eyes, " Aw, I just got jabbed in the eye with that. Good grief! I'm going to need therapy!"

To which the Peach amused by it all responds laughing heartily, " That never gets old! Just never."

Goodness Reigns

This is one of the video's up for peoples choice awards on Goodness Reigns. It's Natural Family Planning explained.

Do you want a good relationship with your husband?
Do you want a strong bond with your husband?
Do you want to improve your marital communication?
Do you want to raise your level of intimacy?
You know the divorce rate. Does a 5% divorce rate among couples practicing natural family planning surprise you?

Why I should never own a pet.

16 years ago I got a bird and named her Domino, a goffins cockatoo.

She (I assumed she was a chick because of the bitchiness and light brown eyes) but we never actually had the bird sexed by a vet to tell us the sex.

She'd eat off of my plate and I used to get her, her own cup of tea because she wouldn't stop drinking the stuff even after it made her sick, glutton! I stopped feeding her because eating with her was just disgsuting. 

When she'd grouch at me or bite me I'd punish her:

- I'd spray her with a water bottle

- I was known to put her in the freezer for 30 seconds at a time - she didn't like that and I didn't like getting bitten so we both got what we didn't want

- I put her in the dark

Normal type stuff - ok the freezer was a bit mafia but I did make an impression with that one, although I don't recommend it as a punishment. It's been over 10 years that I put her in the freezer last - until a few weeks ago that is.

She used to love to torture the dog, Sabrina our golden retriever who died a couple years ago at the age of 16. My brother used to say (he had a purebred Rotweiller that he BABIED), 

- we would forget to feed Sabrina (cause we would), 

- we'd forget to water her (cause we would), 

- we never took her to the vet (cause we didn't), 

- we didn't give her heartworm meds (cuz we didn't)

and then we had the audacity to call her derogatory names (cause we did but it was cause we loved her), chunky pup, dope-idius maximus(seriously she would fart and then look at anyone else like "how dare you make such rude noises! I was sleeping.", nevermind the stench - she'd just get up and move, glaring at you for inconveniencing her nap with your foul stench.) This was kind of a big deal to him because like I said he babied his dog who he got a couple of years after Sabrina and his dog died 4 years before Sabrina. He found it ironic that his dog died before ours given how well he took care of his dog with his designer food, collar, etc and us who half the time didn't know where Sabrina was or if she had even eaten that day.

Well the bird never really cared for the dog but she would climb off of her perch and feed the dog her leftovers and then bite her nose or tongue- told you she was a bitch. Eventually she did stop biting her but it was kind of cute watching her feed dope-idius. Then the dog died and things got really quite - except the bird screeching. 

About a week ago we got back from our vacation out west. We've left the house before and she has like a 15 gallon water bottle (ok, not 15 gallons but this thing could hydrate a football team in the middle of summer). We freshened up her water bottle ( with the huge bottle we don't normally freshen it up daily but as we were leaving we thought it best to make sure she had lots of water). We were only going to be gone 6 days. Normally I have my best friend check on her when we leave on a trip but this time he was going on a trip 3 days after us and so we just skipped it this time.

So I propped her up near a window and left the blinds open for her and made sure the air was on so it wouldn't get too hot in the house while we were gone.

We came back on the 4th of July. The house was still standing so that's always a good sign. Then I did my typical call out to bitchimus maximus (her Roman name), "Domino did you die on us?" - my normal joking entry call. Only this time she didn't squawk back at me. So I called out again and Peach followed me out to her cage. We noticed she wasn't propped up on her perch trying to glare past the bars of her cage trying to see who's making noises. She was on the bottom of her cage, in the dead bird position. 

Peach lost it and I was, well, speechless. In the past few years once a year someone in our family has died. The dog, my brother, the bird - I guess I was thankful that it wasn't someone else from my family. Monkeyboy was shattered in the speechless, unemotional way only boys and men can manage. They feel so much but just don't know how to let it materialize.

After consoling them and sending them out of the room to clean up their faces, husband and I discussed the horror of the situation. You see, her 15 gallon water bottle was empty. She died of dehydration and with that realization, I was shattered because I'm not purposely cruel to animals. I can be negligent in an "oh, we'll get to that in a bit" sort of way but not cruel - ok there were the freezer incidents. Her water bottle apparently had a catastrophic fail. Either the top didn't get screwed on all the way or it developed a leak that we didn't detect.

 If we had not filled her water bottle anew, if I didn't have the air running so it wouldn't have evaporated the spilled water, if I had the neighbor peek in on her, if I'd have done any of these things she'd still be around to squawk at me but I didn't. That is why I will never own a pet again. 

Guess what this is?

You have to love radiologists and MR physicists. I ask them, "Where is the ladies room?". They point me down the hall. All I see is the door to a 4 Tesla magnet (pictured above) and an elevator. So I go wandering around until I do find a ladies room. Later as we were being escorted out we walked past the door again next to the elevator and it was then that they pointed out that this is in fact the water closet and not the MR closet. They decided to playfully relabel it.

Bingo!

Lots of them! Unfortunately we made a rule and taxis don't count. Dang it!

I'm not wearing any underwear

Whoops! Underwear or no, these are beautiful creatures!

Jimmy John's dollar sub day

You can get dollar subs from Jimmy John's today for customer appreciation day!

In Cleveland
In Detroit
In other places, check it out for yourself!

O where is my hairbrush!

Long hair is the bane for the mother of this peach. I've begged her to chop it short. I don't need a prissy little girl with long hair who knows more about fashion than I do but have one I do (sans the prissiness. God is merciful!). The whole time we were looking for the hairbrush we sang the hairbrush song because who isn't amused by that song?

It made searching for it so much more tolerable. Veggies of the world, Thank you!

Through the wormhole

Being an imaging scientist is rewarding particularly when I get to work with physicians, radiologists and patients. This is perhaps one of the more visually stimulating aspects of imaging science and so cool!

Parenting perks

This cartoon from the PoorMD reminded me that the Peach pit refuses to learn. She absolutely despises learning. It is amazing the lengths of torture she will endure to ensure she does not learn.

Granted when I was studying for my PhD as soon as classes were over, the process would begin whereby I would actively forget what I had just learned. We all do that to a certain extent. However our little Peach exerts heroic virtue in withstanding her assignments to the point of making them torturous. She can spend 5 torturous hours on one spelling assignment and at the end of 5 hrs, we are no closer to seeing completion in sight. 

The Premature Detonation

The 2012 San Diego Fireworks display which was suppose to last 15-20 minutes had a premature detonation. The fireworks, all of them, went off...at once and it lasted about 30 seconds, but it was a doozy!

Morning grabby

I thought husband was the only grabby and cranky one but this guy was distinctly not pleased with me. In the octopus' defense he had every right to be displeased with me. I think animals and babies have this instinctive knowledge of an inner dimension and they can spot idiots a mile away.

I have a horrible track record with plants and animals. I'm not vicious or purposefully mean to animals. I am characteristically negligent and that's not good. I used to wonder why God only granted us 2 kids. Now I'm beguiled and curious as to why on earth he ever gave me even 1. Somehow they managed to make it past infancy and I can guarantee you it was not though my tender loving devotion of serving their every need. Through some miracle, they have made it to the age where they are capable of feeding and clothing themselves. Plants and animals are not so lucky around me. For the benefit of plants and animals everywhere I will never to own a pet or plant of any variety, ever, ever, ever again. I will share that story perhaps this weekend if I can pluck up the courage.

Practical advice on attire

Dental floss should be reserved for dental floss. 'nuff said!

More parenting lessons from Atticus Finch

I was reading this horrendous book by someone who is moderately famous and I about puked. The only saving grace was that I didn't pay a thing to read that drivel.

What struck me about this father wasn't his selfishness. He outed himself as being selfish and questioned whether he could be a father knowing how wrapped up he is in himself. It wasn't the snobbery of his Gucci, Hermes coitture. It wasn't the dosh he doled out on therapy. It wasn't the Aspen vacations, his colorful language, his familiarity with the famous. It was the unhappiness his selfishness caused and his complete obliviousness to it.

He told a story of how he broke down crying when his daughter no longer needed him to swim. It was time for her to learn on her own and that just rocked his world in an unexpected way - unexpected for him at least.

I know parents cry at these kinds of moments and that's not a bad thing. However this story was the epitome of what was ailing this unhappy and anxious guy. His kids fulfill a need for him. His kids are an expression of who he is and in many ways he selfishly clings to the kids so they can fulfill his needs but I doubt he'd ever see it as being selfish. He was fulfilled in those moments with his kids and when that moment was over his world got shaken.

Granted if we don't appreciate the people in our lives here and now, we don't get another chance. However if we take a page from Atticus Finch we might learn to appreciate our kids as they grow and to rejoice when they do things on their own because as parents our fulfillment comes in doing our jobs. Our fulfillment comes in the "doing".

This weekend we bought a gift from Napa Valley for Monkeyboy and Peach Pit. I cried my little eyes out not because we dropped half a grand on bottles of wine but because we bought something special for them. We bought them each bottles of Reserved Wine for:

the one day if they are called to marriage
the one day if she is called to profess her vows
the one day if he is called to the ordained priesthood

One day so much like any previous day but it will be the one day where my role as mother will change, where his role as son, her role as daughter will change.  I cried happy tears because that will be a moment I hope that I will have done a good job in all those little moments because I don't get a do-over.

Have you taken the color challenge?

Take it here

"He descended into Hell" and more on iPads

Huh????

Seriously! That was the Zenit headline today.

"He Descended Into Hell"
And More on iPads

If you like me have been eyeing an iPad, you might think 'getting to hell is actually a relatively  easy path to walk. Hmmm, might not be such a bad place if they have iPads in stock for all the inhabitants.'


Seriously, Zenit! This is how you're saving souls?

Actually it was just an unfortunate news title. It was a question/answer section on question on the profession of faith and a follow-up about a previous question about the use of iPads in liturgical settings. It was an insightful piece reminding us that we set aside things to be used in liturgical practice because it's that special.

When we use something for a holy purpose and then also check email on it does it make it less holy? Not necessarily but it can lull us into drawing things down into the ordinary instead of lifting them up to the extra-ordinary. A wedding gown is worn on a special occasion. That being said, when traveling with wedding attire, it helps to pack light and that is where an iPad comes in handy.

I suppose I have grown a bit adjusted to using my iBrevary when I could easily use my Divine Office prayer books. Hmmm, food for thought.

Sound biblical advice on dating

Monkeyboy can't stand tomatoes. Some people can't stand LeBron.

I can't get the boy to eat tomatoes. He gags. He just doesn't like them. No amount of cooking, flavoring, grilling, or varying presentations changes that. So do I make him choke them down?


This is essentially what these IDIOTIC sports commentators are insisting everyone do with LeBron James. Dan Gilbert (Cav's owner) didn't outright congratulate LbJ on his ring. Why should he? Did any other NBA owner/team do so?


The media has made this a story and THEY want closure. Others might be more inclined to think LbJ is a douche-bag with a ring but in their opinion he will always be a douche-bag unless he does something to prove he's not. Proving he's not does not mean getting a ring. 


Mike and stand-in Ike this morning commented (in the 10 seconds I listened to them before switching them off) something like "people can't complain anymore that he's not a clutch player". Perhaps but you idiot it was never about his clutch play! That was an outlet to the underlying, "we can't stomach the guy". So take your ring and your tie tack and have a nice day.


To be completely honest, I am not a LbJ hater, never have been. I'm impressed with his talent but the sports commentators and media has made this such a huge issue that it's convincing me I need to not like the guy. If some people have hard feelings about LbJ, rubbing their noses in the fact that he has a ring isn't going to change their opinion.


Forgiveness doesn't mean you forget the douchey things someone's done. It doesn't mean you have to like someone. It doesn't mean you have to congratulate them. It may mean you have to battle through your own feelings to refrain from saying anything uncharitable. Is this what Dan Gilbert did in his tweet? I don't know as I can't read his mind or heart but I do know that he graciously thanked both teams for their finals performance and he refrained from saying anything uncharitable. Sometimes that's is all we are capable of stomaching.

I lost my wallet!

Seriously, I lose things on a continual basis. This is why I have house elves to fetch me my things that I leave just about anywhere. This morning I lost my wallet. Yep, for two days I lost my wallet but only realized it 2 days later. So I texted my friends because I was about to flip out and they prayed for me.

So if you too are in need of a prayer to St. Anthony:
Tony, Tony look around, something's lost that can't be found.

I was informed that I should have a permanent personal novena to St. Anthony.

Can you just shut up?

Oh, nevermind. I found the remote.

I'm a sports fan, not a fanatic, a fan. I'm not necessarily an NBA fan but I have watched with bemusement at OKC's run in the finals and they have been impressive. I've said all along to my friends and co-workers who can't stand LeBron James that I'm sorry, he's just a talented guy with talent on loan from God. I left out the part that I thought he'd be winning a title this year. No need to rub salt in the wound. I'm not an LBJ fan, I just call them like I see them.

These OKC/Heat games and announcers/ media are driving me crazy - short trip! I love watching/listening to Mike and Ike in the morning(ok it's mike and mike but ike is way cooler) but they are driving me to shut them off until they get off of their "NBA finals" rants cause I just can't stand it any longer.

Here's why:
1. The officiating, has been just a tad blatantly slanted towards LBJ. Seriously when your that talented do you want to even have the "appearance" of impropriety? It'll draw back from the talent that is already there. And yes, the officiating has been good for the most part but when the officials get told "No one's paying to see Kevin Durant on the sidelines", you think that's a helpful statement for the game. Then the blatant calls on anyone BUT Durant when fouling LBJ is just an embarrassment. What does the media say "yeah the Heat are getting a few calls their way but that doesn't change the outcome of a series" - Dude when the teams are that evenly matched, a few calls is all it takes to tip the balance.

2. LBJ will win 1 and then please can everyone just shut it! After A-ROiD finally won the series with the Yanks, yes everyone finally shut up and it became a non story so that everyone could get back to hating the Yankees. Seriously, does anyone really like that team outside of NY? (I have friends from other states congratulating me when my teams beat them!) We are united in our utter contempt of the Yanks and I'm sure it will be the same with LBJ. He can win, but that won't change the fact that most people think he's a douche-bag.

3. End the drama. Guys think they don't have drama. Puh-leeeese. Spare me. You guys are so freakin' dramatic. It's just not how girls are dramatic. Guys have their drama. Mike and Ike have been drama. Magic Johnson's comments, please dude stop, just stop. Take off your Richard Simmons spandex leotard and just stop. "I want to see him win." "It'll be good for him to finally get the win." "They're going to pull it out and get the win and then King James will finally get that prize!" What I tend to like about guys is that they can be clear thinking, factual and not get caught up in the emotive drama that chicks get drawn into but man, put a ball in play or boobs in the vicinity and they get all irrational.


My final take is that the Heat may win one, but OKC which is the real story here will win several. They have talent in a bottle, on a budget, working like a well oiled machine. Perhaps they lack the wisdom experience brings when playing in the finals but who on earth ever ever expected to see them in the Finals? The Heat (not LBJ, he's part of the team folks and he's finally playing like he's part of a team) might get the win but in the end it's the Thunder that steals the show. If they keep that team together, we will be seeing a whole lot more of them for years to come.

Has Hell frozen over?

News Flash: "In a surprise move Sister Carol Keehan, DC, president of the Catholic Health Association (CHA), has come out saying the association cannot accept the changes to the Health and Human Services (HHS) rules that require Catholic organizations to fund contraceptives and abortifacients."


What the, huh? Really?


Read it on Zenit

Hello Jesus

We held Eucharistic adoration for one of our groups who sacrifice their time and energy to minister to others.

I helped arrange this prayer time. I had no idea who would show up to this prayer session. I sent the invitations, I prayed and then I just let it go and hoped people would come and pray. Come and pray they did. What was most surprising to me was that the men of the group showed up. None of the ladies showed, except me but as I was organizing I don't suppose I count. I was perfectly ok being the lone lady as I relate better to guys than dolls anyway. It was amazing.

It was communion of heart and mind. Knowing that we minister to others perhaps not seeing the fruits of our labors for years or not at all takes a great deal of faith and commitment. Opening ourselves to being ministered to as part of our ministry takes humility but it is necessary. Ministry is not what you do. It's what you allow to happen. It happens in communion, not in isolation. This is a key difference between Christian service and community service. Community service is an activity that is done, a service. Christians exist to serve and to be served. Catholicism is a "both and" mentality and so many people don't get that. Jesus is both son and God. It's very easy to serve, to minister to others, but to be humble and allow someone to minister to you, to acknowledge that there is something incomplete, or in need of healing in ourselves takes humility and a certain amount of vulnerability.

As I informed the priest afterward, "You sucked, but Jesus was totally awesome!", it occurred to me that the whole humility thing... yeah well I need some work on that

Suits - "If he goes I go!"

Anybody a Suits fan? This is a great show and it's on Thursday nights on USA. The language as far as damning everything in sight is a bit dubious and gets tiresome. However, it is a great show with deep characters.

In an age when no one has morals or scruples, Harry Specter the lead attorney and closer may still not have them but he's a fascinating character. At the end of the last episode he stuck his neck out for Mike, his associate who lacks a very key component in being a lawyer, a law degree. One can argue that Harry doesn't make a move that's not calculated and where he's not assured of the outcome but still, it was admirable and maybe for all the wrong reasons but it was still admirable.

Top ten reasons not to say "Jesus, suck it!"

Here are the top 10 reasons why I should never be angry with God:

1. He's never wrong.

This makes me quite irritable at times. In fact it makes me even more cranky really but I have to stand in awe of his stats!

2. He just might decide to play fair.

I don't even want to consider what I would fairly deserve for all of my actions over my lifetime if he suddenly decided to play fair and grant me what fairness would dictate I should have. I'll take his mercy, every day. Thank God I can't exhaust his mercy, but I'm trying!

3. You will live to regret it.

Argue with him and you WILL grow in ways you never imagined. That being said, there are less painful ways to grow but sadly many of us need the holy 2x4 to whack us upside the head.

4. He makes the rules.

Which is why he has phenomenal stats. See #1.

5. He'll let you be angry with him.

It really doesn't bother him at all if I'm angry with him. It bothers me and that bothers me!

6. There's no excuse you can make to justify yourself

 other than mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa

7. He gives. He takes away.

Get over it or lump it.

8. You will always end up needing to apologize

This is because of #1.

9. When you get to #8, trust me there isn't even the possibility of make-up sex.

Which brings me to visit my confessor. In full disclosure however I don't do make-up sex. It's really rather mundane. I much prefer full on holy sex. It still falls short of heaven but eh.

and finally why I should never be angry with God:

10. Jesus never did it.