Contraception available in schools to minors!!?? What the bleep. The excuse is that "We know they're going to 'do it' anyways and this is for their protection." hmm. What if we say, "We know your spouse is going to cheat on you anyways, we'll just provide a nice discreet place for it to happen to prevent embarassment." It'd be the same thing, right?

Protection my ass. How about teaching that sex outside of marriage is immoral and irresponsible, that sex outside of marriage is not cool, that sex outside of marrige is not normal, that there are serious consequences to having sexual intercourse? How about keeping an eye on the kids and keeping them busy so that they won't have the opportunity to fall into the pitfall of having sex outside of marriage?

out

Since I was not feeling well, I did not go to work today. That's what sick leave is for. I suspect that my co-workers would not want me to give them whatever crud I have. I've taken Tylenol for the body ache and any fever; spritzed some of that awful, nasty sore throat liquid; and also took something that might stop whatever dripping is happening there in the back of my throat.

jury duty

I had jury duty today. Amazingly enough, I was looking forward to this day, because it meant a day away from work. Pitiful.

The group of potential jurors I left with was approximately 62 folks. That means that most of us in the bunch are not going to be on jury, being that they only needed 12 jurors.

The judge seemed very thorough and fair. It didn't hurt at all that she is also attractive. She came down to talk to us towards the end. And that's when I saw that she had stillettos. Apparently this lady believes in fashion.

The prosecutor was a young looking fella, but he was well-spoken and I liked his presentation. The defending attorney was older and I didn't like his presentation; he seemed to be attempting to appeal to our sentimental side. Dude, just give me the facts. The prosecutor opened with "there are no technicalities." The defendant's attorney opened with "You must follow the law. The judge will give you the law and you must obey the law even if you don't like the outcome." Okay, so between the two of you, I'm getting the idea that this case hinges on a technicality.

Anyhow, I wasn't picked for jury. Which is just as well because I was feeling worse and worse as the day wore on. I got home around 3:30 and promptly headed off to bed. I slept for at least 4 hours straight, with plenty of tossing and turning.

half done

My unusual home project can be divided into two logical units. As such, I've completed one. The second one (which gave me grief yesterday) is still yet to be done. I'll have to plug the hole and drill a new one. I did go buy the better fitting piece, but being that I'm rigging up stuff, there is some fit problems in the assembly. I will have to work on that before even drilling the hole for it.

Another project is to install new slides into one of our drawers. I haven't even gotten started on it, other than to buy the slides, which have the possibility of being too long but it was the shortest I could get in the store.

This morning Gumdrops and I were at the cathedral for the firefighter's mass. They had the red mass for lawyers maybe a month back and Gumdrops and I were there; no, we're not lawyers. The white mass for medical professionals was a few weeks back; we did not attend that one. Anyhow, the firefighter's mass was cool. They had bagpipes and guys in kilts. The street in front of the cathedral was closed off on the block and they had some of their trucks parked there for the blessings. The mass was assisted by firefighters as lectors, EM's, ushers and such. At the end, the firefighters honored the deceased of the past year. They brought a bell which they rang once after each name of the deceased was read. Too bad I didn't remember to bring my camera to take pictures of the firetrucks outside.

weary

tired. and grumpy. I've spent this beautiful day working an unusal home project per Gumdrops request. I've spent all afternoon and evening on this thing. I'm not finished but it's time to quit becuase I'm friggin tired and things are not working right; I'm starting to make mistakes. I've drilled a 3/4" hole in the wrong place, plus the stuff to be mounted in it doesn't fit. I did want to go wash my car, but no chance of that. tired. back hurts. there's more work to do. so no rest tomorrow. I'm pissed.

digest

whew! I just finished ironing 8 of my t-shirts and 1 dress shirt. Fortunately, the other dress shirts are "no iron." Last Saturday I walked for a charity event and garnered another T-shirt, size large. It was either going to be large or x-large--there were no other choices. I normally wear medium, and even then I wonder if I'm sporting a "tent" look. So I'm not sure what to do with my large T now that the event is over; but it is washed and ironed.

I'm feeling just a little unwell today. I napped after eating lunch; I had done so yesterday as well. As is typical for this area, great weather brings with it stuff in the air. I do believe we are the allergy capital. So I have some allergy symptoms and some sinus problems (headache). But the symptoms are relatively mild. I used to have far worse allergies and I've had headaches bad enough to nauseate me. I haven't had it that bad for quite some time.

Our parish picnic event was today. This year, Gumdrops and I didn't attend. I did one of my church volunteer gigs this morning in conjunction with mass and then left. My favorite pastor presided over that particular mass. He seemed in good spirits. His vestment needed a little adjusting prior to mass and I helped with that. It was cool that we were comfortable working with each other.
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Tomorrow evening I meet with the group volunteering for some of the Dominican stuff. I've kinda dropped the ball on that so I'll have to see where to go from here.
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I am ecstatic that Daniel DiNardo has been named Cardinal. I love that guy.
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Work has picked up pace. I am now too busy to be bored.
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Last week, Discount Tires Direct was running a sale so I was able to get my new tires for a good price. Plus I can get the exact size I need, meaning that I didn't have to buy slightly larger tires and that too brought the price down. They will be shipped to the house. I will need to figure out where to store them until I decide to replace my existing tires. The other problem is that I probably need new struts. Bad struts can cause premature wear on my tires.
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I didn't really recount our adventures at the appliance store. We ended up with a fancier microhood and with a slightly higher price tag. But it was a good deal. Our salesperson was very personable, but she wasn't too savvy on the technical stuff. She wasn't very helpful, but was very accommodating. A wonderful personality always compensates for anything that may be lacking. I'd hang with a personable person any day.

found

That which I had lost has been found. Thank you, God. Thank you, St. Anthony and all Saints. Thank you, all who prayed with me.

I will return it to its owner on Monday, being that I now have my own copy.

God works in mysterious ways. Just because I don't see the mountain moving doesn't mean that it isn't moving or that it isn't going to move.

pig of happiness

Found at the nun thing
I like so much I have to post it here. I want it for my office desk too.

different

Clever


Aptera


Commuter Cars


Th!nk


Smart USA


Terrafugia, Inc.


Myers Motors

legal murder

Over 1 million lives extinguished last year. When the Germans were trying to extinguish the Jewish people, they made a cognitive justification by saying that Jewish people were not persons. When Americans had slaves, they justified it by saying that the slaves were not persons. They didn't want to give up slavery because *gasp* how could they possibly have a thriving economy without slaves? Now we're doing abortions because, you know, that's not killing a person. Plus, if you can't afford to raise child, why, economics consideration is a legit reason go ahead and kill him/her off. Not too long ago, women were regarded as just a step above the furry four-legged animals. It's awful that this lack of respect for the dignity of persons continues today: just wave it off as "not a person."

The cause of abortions is a lack of faith. Lack of faith that God will provide.

In a parish with approximately 4,000 families, approximately 20 people showed up for a pro-life prayer service this evening. And I'd bet that approximately half of that 20 were the people on the pro-life committee. If your kid had a baseball game, you'd try to show up for moral support. So along the same lines, if your parish committees sponsor an event, it'd be nice to show up to provide moral support.

But on the bright side, there was some attendance tonight. May God be praised.

grumpiness

Over at Natty's blog, she is asking, "What are your platforms for preaching?" If you'd like, swing by there and drop a line or two.

Anyhow, it reminded of a recent incident at work. I'm having a rather poor attitude at work these days anyways and it's pretty easy to trigger my grumpiness. Someone suggested that I was reading a bad version of the Bible. Oh that got me riled up. I spit back that their copy must be bad just to point out that the charge that a Bible is a "bad copy" was, at that point in the conversation, without grounds. We left it hanging because I had to run off to a meeting. Fact is that what we were discussing (it 's in the book of Genesis) was in every major Bible that was looked up on the web. I don't know if the other person has conceded to that and I don't know what Bible the other person has.

I was surprised at the gall of calling my copy of the Bible "bad." Especially when we were discussing a part of the Pentateuch, which is pretty much common across Bible versions. I'm riled up now just thinking about it.

I must admit, that was lousy "preaching" on my part.

Thanks be to God!

Thanks be to God! I found available for purchase one copy of the item which I lost. I've just put in the order. It should arrive within the next 2 weeks. It's used but the seller says it's in very good condition.

I've been trying to contact the person who had trustingly loaned it out to me. Now I can explain what happened PLUS say that I am getting the replacement when we do hook up.

a bookshop

Shopping for gifts? Try your religious organizations and see what goods they're offering. Here's a link to one, the Sinsinawa Dominican's bookshop .

Since Natty mentioned it...
I did not find mound cake, but looky, you can get very delicious looking bread from these same folks: http://www.sinsinawa.org/Bread_Gifts/Bread.cfm

(the double "sin" in their name does give rise to some jokes)

love them Dominicans

I'm so proud of these folks, I'm just beside myself. This is a new web design and it's a huge improvement from the previous version.

in case it doesn't go to the right place...it should be http://www.houstonop.org/html/new_index.html

range hood

We're in the market for a range hood. Apparently it's a pretty important piece of kitchen equipment. I finally found an article with some recommendations: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/homegarden/2003127474_kitchenconsumerreports15.html

I might go with the Maytag UXT5430A. I think Home Depot has them. It's a 2005 model, I think, which is not that old. We're actually fans of Kenmore, so we might look into some Kenmore models. I can find nothing on the recommended Kenmore 5234; maybe it's an old model that's been replaced. But I can't favor it if I know nothing about it, hence the lean towards Maytag.

update: We'll go with a Kenmore microwave venthood (microhood) instead.

scatterbrained

Man, I'm just all over the place. No focus.

Sunday I did my volunteer gigs then attended the Dominican Sister's jubilee mass/celebration and reception. Our bishop presided. What a treat. I love that guy. Oh, yeah, I love the Dominicans too. This year I was properly dressed in a dressy dress with dress shoes. Those shoes were pure torture. They squish my toes and completely negate what little cushioning the ball of my feet had in the first place. Given the discomfort of my get-up, the standing room only crowd, high noise level, and also that Gumdrops wasn't feeling well (the main factor, actually), I didn't stay long at the reception. I didn't see my Dominican liason at any time and that was probably a social faux pas. I can't help but be forgiving, given my frequent need for other's forgiveness.

I'm not quite keeping up with my Dominican volunteer gig.

I'm thinking about looking for another job. I responded to two job ads yesterday, but didn't exactly do so with gusto: no cover letter and no polishing of the resume. My current job is killing me; I can't be productive and that's not good for my psyche.

The missing item is still missing.

I'm up for one of my church gigs this Sunday. I'm trying to prepare for it. Which reminds me, I have some stuff to read from my last visit with the spiritual director ... I should get on it.

My car needs new tires again. Discount Tires quoted over $800 for four new Michelins with the works. Yeah right. I said I'd have to think on that. I've asked around and it seems that all tires suck. I'll probably try some Yokohama Geolandars.

I'm thinking we should change out the breaker box on the house. We have some Stab-Lok breakers and there's a report on the web that says these breakers are prone to fail in the sense that they don't do what they are supposed to do. I don't see much evidence that refutes it, and I think it's worth the safety to change out the whole box. That's going to be a pretty penny.

Still fretting over my student loan. Even if it were possible to put the entire paycheck towards the loan, it still wouldn't be enough to pay it out. Not that it matters; that's definitely fantasy to not have to pay for anything else. But on the bright side, there has been progress. Next year I hope to up the monthly payments to $800. We'll see how it goes.