Happy Belated Thanksgiving, and Happy Advent

Since I don’t blog for a living, I will from time to time take extended breaks, since this isn’t my top priority.

That was the case over the last couple of weeks.    I started an extended vacation from work beginning November 17, and because I was trying to get everything in a place where it needed to be before I left, I haven’t submitted a blog post since a few days before that.

Today is just a check-in as I now begin the task of catching up from my time off!

A quick recap of my time off:

November 17 – My wife and I and a couple friends drove to Green Bay, Wisconsin and listened to Charlie Johnston speak.   I introduced myself as “The Diatribe Guy” after his talk and he was genuinely happy to see me.   It was nice to meet him in person.    He appreciated that I have a bit of a skeptical nature about the whole thing, while also keeping an open mind about it all.    I am respectful and try to provide a different view or insight when I comment on his blog and I think he recognizes that I am not a troll who is trying to play some game of “gotcha” but instead someone who is trying to understand, take it all in, keeping my wits about me, and maintaining prudence.    He didn’t say a whole lot I hadn’t heard him say or write before, but it’s always good to be in a small community with others.

November 18 – my birthday!   Yay me.    And as my birthday present I went to our garden an hour away to spread a mineral mix on it only for 50 mph winds to spring up out of nowhere and make spreading it impossible.   So I unloaded it and came back home.   While I was gone, our oven broke.   Since I have already paid for this oven twice because it keeps breaking down, we decide to get a new one.    My wife and I do a birthday dinner, shop for appliances, and go see a movie.   Jack Reacher.    It was OK – nothing special but a couple hours of mindless entertainment.   Lowe’s is on a two-week delivery schedule, and Thanksgiving is only 5 days away.   We pass.

November 19 – November 27:   Rifle deer hunting season in Wisconsin.    A time where the kids, the father-in-law, and me spend countless hours in the woods and see NOTHING.    Four year drought.   The only thing I got was a cold.

November 19: Appliance shopping – decide to go to a gas stove with a local dealer who can guarantee delivery by Thanksgiving.   but we are not set up for gas, so first need to find a plumber who can get to our house before Thanksgiving.     Vacation is stressful.   Wisconsin Badgers win in football, moving up to 6th in the national playoff rankings!

November 20 – Packers lost again.   Defense is horrible.

November 21:  While we are hunting in spurts throughout this whole week, this was the special day of triumph.   Spend all day at the father-in-law’s land a couple hours away, picking off huge Bucks!    Well, we spent all day there, froze our butts off and finally saw a doe about 200 yards away facing away from us with about 15 minutes left in the hunting day.    Too far to take the shot for my son, who was the only one allowed to shoot a doe in this county.   That’s as close as we got all season to shooting a deer.    My wife actually found a plumber who could come over the next day.

November 22: We have gas in the kitchen!   Well, I always have gas in the kitchen, but I mean the natural kind that runs appliances.

November 23 – Spent half the day in a dentist’s chair.    A crown in my mouth cracked.   That has been drilled out, my nub is now even a smaller nub, and a temporary crown is on. I texted my sister and said that I think my Purgatory will be continued dental work in a confined space with spiders crawling on me.   Her response was “If that is Purgatory, then Hell sounds better.”    I couldn’t even argue.   Our gas stove is delivered!   We can now make a Thanksgiving meal.

November 24:   Happy Thanksgiving!    Great meal with the whole family.   Very nice day, despite my mouth hurting from the dental work.   Despite my wife’s nervousness about getting used to gas and convection oven cooking, everything was awesome.

November 25 – 27: Lots of hunting.    My father-in-law has a habit of picking a spot to park on public land and then walking to the furthest possible point on that land from where we parked.

November 26: Badgers won again – Big Ten East Champions – will play in the Big Ten title game next week against Penn State.   Will likely remain 6th in the rankings, possibly moving to 5th.   Need to finish top four to make the playoff.

 

Looking at that recap is a synopsis of life.    A couple hurdles and unexpected irritations that need to be dealt with – so you deal with them.   You can let it get you down or you can just move forward.   Some things of highest value that bring you joy (God, family, thankfulness, time together), things you try to do but don’t succeed at and you learn from it and move on, some frivolous pursuits that bring some added color and entertainment to life…    If I recapped every week of my life it would probably look something like that.

 

So let’s move on.   It’s Advent.   Life will be busy, but when you look back at each week will you see a lot of pointless busyness at the expense of things that would have been more important, or do you see a good balance.     I look above and I like the balance overall.    In the woods, I even spent some of that time in prayer and contemplating God.

But I was on vacation – toss in my work schedule and suddenly the balance becomes harder to achieve.    I’m going to try my best to maintain a proper balance during Advent – and beyond.

Team Hamstring

So, on a completely different and personal note…

My son was part of a Flag Football League this year.   The last game was called off, and it was decided that it would be fun to have the team play against parents, coaches, and teachers.

My initial response was “This is not a good idea.”

My wife and son finally convinced me to play the game.

I am 48 years old, and I work at a desk.   I used to be a very good athlete.   Used to be.

Result:  Severely pulled hamstring.

But I was not alone.   Two other pulled hamstrings and a pulled calf muscle, and it was determined by more than just me that “maybe that was not a good idea.”

I’m on the mend, but it will be a few weeks before I can do any vigorous exercise.   Not that I did before.

Why Am I Annoyed by Happy People on Commercials?

The little boy drops a bowl of cereal.   The bowl breaks and stuff is everywhere.   The boy cries.   The mom smiles and consoles him.  There is no anger or scolding.  There is only…  a Swiffer!   And joy abounds.

The man has heart pains.  But because of the magical pill he no longer has heart pains.  He now feels younger.   Now, all his time is spent laughing as he plays hide-and-seek or fishing with his grandchildren.

I hate these commercials.  But why do I hate them?   Do I not want people to love their kids and grand-kids?   Do I prefer that people lose their temper instead of being cool, steady, and joyful?

No, that’s not it.

The first reason i hate them is because I am not that perfect.   I’d have yelled at the kid and thrown him in the corner while grumbling about his clumsiness as I cleaned up his mess.    And when I retire, I look forward to spending time playing cards with my grandkids, but I’m probably not going to play hide and seek.   Too much work.   So, yes, I see my own imperfections in the perfect unreality of commercials.

The second reason I hate them is because I don’t believe they mirror most realities, and they’re trying to sell me something by lying to me about the fact that all my anger and imperfections can now magically be solved by this particular product.  That’s a lie.

But really, my dislike for all this goes much deeper.   I may be overthinking this, but I am utterly annoyed by the hypocrisy of our culture.   We sure love our kids in commercials.   They are our joy and our hope.   But in a society that has killed over 50 million kids in the womb and prevented however many other pregnancies because of the contraceptive mentality we have totally embraced, the idea that we really, really love our kids so much because they mean everything to us is simply a lie.  They don’t.

That may seem harsh, and I don’t mean it as a universal statement that applies to everyone.   But I do mean it as an overarching cultural statement.

Imagine the following sentiment from Mr. and Mrs. ABC:   “Oh, little Johnny and Jenna are just the joys of our lives.   We can’t imagine what life would be without them.   They are such blessings, and it’s so unreal watching them grow up!  The time flies by so quickly!”

“Oh, so are you planning on having any more children?”

“Good, God, no!   We can hardly handle the two we have!”

So… which is it?   The “money can’t put a price tag on the little darlings that bring the ultimate joy to our lives” parents, or the “I can’t handle this” parents.    Because saying you can’t handle something, to me, is not something you say about a blessing.    It’s something you say about a burden.

Now, don’t get me wrong.   I am not saying it isn’t normal to think that you can’t handle life at times, including the kids.   This is perfectly normal.   In fact, sometimes I think we need those times to allow us to refocus on God.   Because when we can’t handle something, we must humbly turn to God in our humanness and ask for help, and admit that we are not God, we are not in complete control, and we are imperfect.    The answers that God gives in these times may not be what we desire.   We get tested and refined and strengthened so that we can not only handle what we have, but a little bit more.    And to the extent we can’t, we need to lean on Him all the more.   This isn’t all about happy happy joy joy.

So, in our human ingenuity, we’ve turned to abortion and contraception as the answers to our burdens – children – all the while putting on a face of love and joy and happiness over the children we have, as long as we don’t have enough to disrupt our lifestyle.   And this somewhat peeves me.

But, I guess a commercial about a dad with 9 kids doling out a punishment while pulling out an old dishrag he found for a quarter at a garage sale probably wouldn’t inspire consumerism.   So, I’ll just have to live with the fact that people on commercials love their kids.   At least the ones they kept.

 

Tattoo or not Tattoo

Let me lay all my biases out from the beginning:   This opinion comes from both a Catholic/Faith perspective, but also deeply on my own opinion of tattoos.   And I have yet to hear any argument that has convinced me that getting a tattoo – especially one of visual prominence – makes any sense whatever.   I think they are stupid, pure and simple.   I know that rankles people, but I have a right to my opinion.   So, I’m going to be evaluating the question from the perspective of someone coming from a good, Catholic, family who is debating the relative merits of getting a tattoo, but wanted to make clear my initial bias in this question.   I admit I will not be able to refuse my opinion of it from my personal bias, and actually I am not even going to try all that hard to do so, because quite honestly I think the reason I already feel that way (and always have) is because I did the more balance, honest evaluation of their merits years and years ago.

So, anyway, my wife has these occasional get-togethers with other homeschooling Catholic moms.   The families range in various sizes and in various stages of where they are in life.    Some have large families (8+ kids) with some kids already graduated and in adulthood, and it goes all the way down to those with a couple young kids just getting rolling.

Without exception, every family takes their faith life seriously, and it is important to them to pass on their Catholic faith to their children.   Of course, we all have our own approaches and styles, and one could debate the strategy of trying to make this happen all day long.  Ultimately, all this really tells me is that none of us our perfect and it shows the importance of relying on God all the more in our journey as parents.   One of my favorite little prayers to utter is “God, please help these kids turn out OK despite my own stupidity and laziness.”

One of the moms is struggling a bit because her 2^nd oldest son has a couple tattoos.   And now the third one has a sizeable tattoo on his forearm and wants to get one on his other forearm.    She has tried to argue for why this isn’t a good idea, and as is typical of young men, they think they know better than their mom.    Now, these young men, to my knowledge, have not strayed in their Catholic faith, still find it important, and still practice it.   They do not see any conflict with the faith and getting a tattoo.

And this is where my opinion comes in.

First, let me be clear.    I do not think, nor will I suggest, that there is anything intrinsically evil or sinful with tattoos.   Like many things, the real question is a matter of what is driving someone to do something.   But I do think that someone really needs to be honest with themselves in evaluating why they want a tattoo if they are indeed considering one.   This shouldn’t be problematic – we really should do this with everything we do.  Why do a I want ten million dollars?   Because I want to give it away to the poor or because I want to have an easy life with little or no responsibility?   Most of us would fall somewhere in between those two extremes, and while most of us aren’t going to get ten million dollars it’s still a worthy mental exercise to go through an honest evaluation and promise yourself and God what it is you would plan to do with it if it ever happened.\

Here are my opinions and responses to some of the clever (or not so clever) arguments on the matter.

• Argument: Getting a tattoo today is like getting your ear pierced years ago.   It has become much more accepted, and is not looked at as a big deal.    Full disclosure – I got my ear pierced in my college days.   I was in a rock band, admittedly liked the looks of it, and I did it.   I don’t even regret it.   I thought it looked cool.   There was no more motivation behind it than that.   But I am not being a hypocrite here, in my opinion, with that comparison.   Because even back then, I considered the questions, and even then there were people getting tattoos and doing all sorts of other things.    I knew and considered that at any time this was reversible.   I knew that at some point in my life, I may well consider the wearing of an earring silly or immature.    I knew I could take it out at any time if the situation called for it without needing to mask it.    It may or may not have been a dumb thing to do, and I may or may not have had other opinions of me diminished because of it, but the impact was minimal.    Also, I could switch it up for the right occasion – a simple stud for normal wear or something gaudier for a show, or nothing at all for a trip to the parents who I knew didn’t love it.    So, I get the comparison, and the social attitude may be comparable, but the reality of what you are doing is not comparable.

• Argument: But <insert morally upright individual> has one, and if he has one, it can’t be all that bad!     In Catholic circles, the argument du jour is Father Stan Fortuna , who is a Catholic Priest with tattoos.    OK, this is always a stupid argument for many reasons, and I’ll address why.   Before I do, let me go on record as not intending in any way to disparage Father Stan Fortuna.   I honestly have no qualms about him doing what he does or having a tattoo – again, he knows why he does.    But whenever someone points to “a” person as the example among a sea of counterexamples, it is in no way an honest argument.   If you are truly going to make your life decisions based on the example of others, then you don’t look for exceptions to justify your own behavior.   You look for what the majority of people are doing that you admire and respect.   Exceptions are just that – exceptions.   And there’s a reason why they are exceptions.   Now, lest you think I am making an argument about just following the crowd, that’s misreading what I am saying.   Being a devout Catholic in and of itself is already not following the crowd.   But once you commit yourself, then you do want to follow the examples of other devout Catholics.    Most importantly, Venerables, Blesseds, Saints, and the other holy men and women we meet in our life should be very important role models, emulators, and mentors for us.   We should follow this crowd whenever the question is something that has a moral or spiritual component to it.    And in this case, the vast majority of examples in this group have not littered their body with tattoos.   Exceptions exist, of course.   But you have to acknowledge the predominant behavior and consider why that is the case.   And it is  a much stronger case.

• Permanence Matters: My opinion.   But while young people don’t like to consider getting older or meeting other people or needing to be a good example for future children and all that, time moves quickly.   I’m 48 and I can still very clearly remember my high school and college days.   I remember how I thought about things, felt about things…   young people today have a difficult time thinking we can relate but I can tell you those youthful memories are very clear – we do get it.    I may think it’s stupid to color your hair pink, or pierce your nose, or wear some of the clothes you wear.   And I may argue why those things are stupid, and you may ignore me because I’m older and I don’t get it (even though I generally thought the same thing when I was young).    But ten years from now you won’t have that hair color any more, you probably won’t have the nose piercing, and you won’t be wearing those same clothes.   Because you’ll grow and mature and change the way you think, and for your own reasons decide that it’s time to move on from that experimentation.    But you ink a huge Eagle – or even a Cross – on your forearm or your back and it’s there forever unless you go through the agonizing and expensive experience of having it removed.    To not even rationally consider this element of getting a tattoo shows a lack of maturity and foresight, in my opinion.

• Desecration of the Temple matters: OK, I want to reiterate that the heart is what matters.   And someone may really think and believe that they have a good reason for doing what they are doing.   And they may even think God likes them getting a religious tattoo.   But God still made you the way you are – without them.    Relating this to permanence, you are purposely changing yourself.    Others may disagree with me, but this smacks of someone thinking that they can improve upon what God has made you.    This isn’t trying to keep you healthy or fix a medical condition.   It’s fundamentally changing the intended design of who you are and how you were made.   Sure, it may be cosmetic in nature, but it’s also readily apparent for all to see.

• Size matters: I am against all tattooing, but like all other things of questionable nature there is scale as well to consider.   If I see someone with a pierced nose, I may think it unnecessary and a bit silly, and I don’t really get the draw, but it’s not an overwhelming shock.    If I see someone with a nose, lip, eyebrow, and cheek pierced I am going to form an unfavorable opinion of that person in some way.   I try not to be judgmental, and I am not supposed to judge the heart, and I try my best not to.   But this person is also bringing a bit of this upon themselves by publicly mutilating their body.    My judgment isn’t really one about the salvation of the person.  It is more a general feeling that something is really missing in this person’s life that they are trying desperately to fill.    Others may go to other unfavorable thoughts of what that person might be like it.   And you can lecture as much as you want about that being wrong, but it is also human nature, and quite frankly it’s not 100% wrong.   We are given the discernment to separate out right from wrong and right things from wrong things.   Without even judging the heart of a person, I am not going to apologize for knowing that there is something wrong or problematic about the actual act and display of getting multiple piercings.   I will just try not to jump to conclusions about the person – though it can be very hard to separate the two.      Likewise, I could probably live with a small tattoo that may have some unknown personal meaning, but the more there are and the bigger they are is going to directly impact my first impression of you.   And as to the argument that it’s my problem and not yours, that’s dead to me.   Sure, any judgment may be my problem to an extent, but it’s also yours.   Whether endearing yourself to future in-laws, applying for work, making new friends, etc.  these things are all your problem.   And unless you never judge anyone for anything, you can’t expect others to act any differently.   And if nobody ever judges anything, then God help us all.

I could actually go on.   Believe it or not, there are still additional points I could make.   But I’ll leave it to this last thing:

• Find older people in your Church who you know to be faithful people, who also have predominant tattoos. Get to know them and then ask them if they are glad they have them.     I have done this on a few occasions, and in most cases there is regret.   In some cases there is acceptance that they did what they did and it doesn’t bother them.    In no cases yet have I heard anyone thrilled to death about how great their tattoo is, and they’d do the same thing all over again, and only regret that they don’t have more.

 

Of course, I could be completely wrong.

I Don’t Listen Enough

It is a good and right thing to form opinions and to express them.   It is even better if those opinions are formed, with the best of your ability, in alignment with a well-formed conscience, with a mind towards God, with a mind towards Catholic teaching, and of course Sacred Scripture.

But we are human, and we all have our own life experience.   I wrote a couple days ago about how we all have a unique set of life experiences that help make us who we are.

Because of this, our opinions can gravitate to areas in response to specific circumstances and experiences.   Two people can fundamentally agree on the morality of a particular act, while still fundamentally differing on ancillary things in association with that act.   Whether you feel empathy and compassion for someone engaged in a behavior or whether you think people need to be punished for it will likely be due to past experiences that have led you to this point of view.   That, along with natural differences in temperament and personality contribute as well.

I reflect on my own weaknesses in this area.   I have very strong convictions and opinions on the rightness and wrongness of many things.   That is unwavering.    However, I think we often equate a pastoral attitude, empathy, and compassion with compromise on principle.

In my own experience, I sat on the board of a Pregnancy Center for six years.   The entire Board of Directors were very strongly Pro-Life and felt abortion was absolutely wrong.   But it would have been counterproductive and harmful if the folks working in the office – and the Board supporting them – had viewed the visitors with a judgmental heart.   There are times and places for the politics and the arguments, but not here.   This was a place to welcome them, to listen to them, to try and understand their situation, and only then could we try to steer them away from considering an abortion.   We needed to address the person, the situation, the experiences.   If we simply addressed the issue they would walk out and never come back, and probably tell everyone else they knew about their experience.

But in our personal, daily lives, how often do we forget this?   Shouldn’t all our interactions start with that approach?    Sure, they probably should.

But I’m horrible at it.   Because it requires that a person actually listen, and also care.

I am going to try and improve.   I think a simple way of doing that is to try and get in the habit of asking a question along the lines of “So, what has led you to look at things this way?”   And then shut up until they are done.

We’ll see how it goes.

Copy and Paste if you…

…love Jesus.

…are really a true friend.

…hate cancer.

…don’t want toddlers to die.

 

As part of the Facebook generation, I’m really not entirely sure why I stay part of the Facebook generation.   I find that, more often than not, I am simply annoyed by what other people post.    The list is not short.   My liberal friends tell me I shouldn’t vote for Trump because he’s a horrible person, and then in a mind-boggling act of hypocrisy are planning on voting from Clinton.   One of my nephews is quoting gnostic gospels and arguing with someone about a pyramid in Bosnia or something.   Another nephew is gay and proudly proclaiming how “love won” because of the Supreme Court decision.   And then came the “solidarity” profile pictures that made my head want to explode.   And then the Traditionalist Catholics can’t help but tell me Pope Francis is an apostate.  And don’t get me started about requests to play games, or being poked or prodded or whatever it is that Facebook does.

But one of the more annoying things is when someone posts something on my timeline that says “I want to see how many of my friends are REAL friends.    No sharing allowed.   You must copy and paste this.”    This is the same approach as all those e-mails we’ve all gotten that try to guilt you into sending an e-mail along by saying something like “many of you will be too ashamed of Jesus to forward this and will delete it.   Those who really love Jesus will forward.”    Yeah – that’s it.   If I don’t forward an e-mail to all my friends I’ll burn in hell for all eternity because, obviously, it’s because I’m ashamed of Jesus.   Never mind that I don’t forward ANY e-mail because I actually don’t want to spam other people with a bunch of crap they don’t want to see, nor do I want to put someone through the same guilt trip I’m supposed to be going through.

I have a standard rule:   I do not copy and paste any message if I am specifically asked to do so.   If I want to copy and paste something I feel like copying and pasting (that’s never actually happened yet, but theoretically it could) then I will.    But don’t tell me to.   And this stand regardless of how nice and good and heart-wrenching your message is.   Babies are dying in Somalia?    I get it.   That sucks.   I may even look into charities that I can contribute to who are trying to do something about it.   I may even share an article about it (as long as I wasn’t told to), but I will not copy and paste.   Because if I do it for just ONE thing, then the precedent has been set, and suddenly I’m pitted against causes and people.

You think I’m your friend?   But you’ll only be sure if I copy and paste a post?    Get real.

And I love Jesus.   I’m not afraid to say it.   But if you try to guilt me into copying and pasting something that everyone will then know that a copied and pasted under pressure and duress, why is that in any way salvific?    And how am I evangelizing?    I LOVE JESUS!   NOW, IF YOU DON’T POST THIS YOU DON’T, AND I’LL KNOW I’M BETTER THAN YOU!   YAY ME!

And if I don’t copy and paste a post to raise awareness for sex trafficking, breast cancer, depression, yoga, or my left shoe then go ahead and think what you want about me if it makes you feel better.

So, the question is, am I being unreasonable?   As a Catholic, a Christian, and just a person trying to be a good overall human being am I taking a stand where I shouldn’t?   Or am I truly shying away from sharing the love of Jesus or helping mankind or just making a friend feel good?   Is my stand on principle actually innately unprincipled?

I don’t think so, and for now I’ll stick with my current modus operandi.  But I’m willing to listen to counter-arguments.

 

 

 

Some Random Observations and Musings

Having just returned from a trip out East, I reflect on things I find I very often reflect on when I am suddenly in the midst of a lot of people.    When one hails from central Wisconsin it is easy to forget that there are a lot of places with a lot of people.   Around here, one has to travel to get to a “big” city.   Within our state, the only real city that qualifies is Milwaukee, and spending time there isn’t nearly like spending it in other major cities.

Anyway, what my wife and I both found amazing is that when traveling to the East Coast, people are everywhere.  I don’t say this as a good or a bad ting – it’s just a different thing for us.

We flew into Boston, but we actually drove straight up to Bar Harbor, Maine.    Traffic the entire way, even in the rural areas, was constant.   A few times along the way, there were traffic delays.    We spent time in Bar Harbor, Acadia National Park, Booth Bay, Portsmouth, NH and finally Boston.    In every spot, it was impressive to see the multitudes of folks out and about going about their business.

In the past, I’ve had to travel to NY for work, and I’ve visited Chicago a number of times as well.   I am always amazed by the sheer volume of humanity.    I know many see this as a problem – I see it as awesome.   I also view it with a bit of sadness.   I imagine what we could accomplish as a human race if we all worked together in accordance with God’s will and we all truly attempted to reach our full potential (whatever that all means in accordance with God’s will).

But in all these cases, I simply cannot help but consider the fact that every last person is seeing life through a different lens than I am.   Even those of us in the same community – even the same household – see things differently than the next person.   Two people viewing the same event at the same time are seeing it from a slightly different perspective and thinking something slightly different about the whole thing.   Add to that the simple fact that no two people, even married and in the same home, will be with each other at all times, it necessarily means that every person has an unique view of life from anyone else.   All these experiences help form who we are.   This is why different people gravitate to different causes from other people.   It’s why one person sees another person in a positive light while another may not.

This very thought always amazes me.   Sometimes I simply sit and watch a person walking from one place to another, and imagine what they are seeing from where they are.   I often wonder what they are thinking about as they are walking – an impossibility for me to know, but intriguing nonetheless.

Now, I admit that this exercise for me – something I have actually been contemplating for years – has a new wrinkle to it.   It is absolutely phenomenal how many people at any given time are walking around staring at a screen.   I am also guilty of that.   It’s really easy to default to pulling out the phone and checking messages, or putting on music, or whatever.    This is not in and of itself a terrible thing – many are checking in with friends and loved ones in a way that satisfies both parties.    OK, I get that.   I do it as well.    But I also wonder how many people ever take the time to just walk.  And think.    And wonder.  How many people are providing some peace and quiet to themselves and balancing out the noise of constant activity.   But that’s not a new issue – many have discussed this need.   But sometimes the best reminder for oneself is to view the rest of the world and realize how silly it all looks, and then understand that you are often engaging in that same silliness.

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Random musing 1:   As a general rule, if a vehicle has more than 2 bumper stickers, it is most often a left-leaning and self-proclaimed socialist.    Most I saw on this trip have either the “Bernie” sticker or a “Coexist” sticker – or both.    A distant second scenario, but still a noticeable one, is a pro-life Catholic.   I’m not a bumper sticker guy, but I can appreciate the zeal for the cause.  But, good grief, I swear that some people slap every bumper sticker they can find, as if to think “Well, if the other 18 didn’t convince everyone, then surely THIS one will do it!”

Random musing 2: How can there be a million cars on the road around Boston, but it’s nearly impossible to find a freakin’ gas station?

Random musing 3:  If you need to smother one substance in another substance in order for it to be enjoyable to eat, then why am I paying $5/oz for it?    I had Lobster twice while in Maine, and it was OK.   I actually preferred it grilled to boiled.   But even with that, I didn’t really get the whole thing.   It doesn’t have a real strong taste either way, so it kind of just tastes like whatever you put on it.   Butter, steak juice, risotto, peanut butter…   A biscuit or a cracker is much less expensive.   I mean, I know it’s cool to crack open the shell of the poor thing that was just boiled to death, so there is that.   But other than the entire novelty of the whole thing, I think I’ll stick with the hunk of beef that tastes like something and weighs more.

 

South Dakota Does Exist

Nothing fancy here, but I will provide a little update here…

1) Thank you so much for well-wishes and prayers. So far our guardian angels and patron saints have been very kind to us on the trip – safe travel so far and no serious injury or death to report, which can be a small miracle with 6 boys 11 and under…

2) Day 1 was a drive day

3) Day 2 was a Laura Ingalls Wilder tour. My two daughters and my wife loved it. The boys enjoyed it to varying degrees. I managed to tolerate it… not exactly my thing. But that’s what you do on vacation as the husband and father. Then, on to our house that we are renting to Piedmont.

4) Beautiful home and location. Love love love it.

5) Day 3 – always enjoy goin to Mass in different places, and always appreciate the universality of the Mass. It’s a wonderful piece of wisdom that the Church has the same readings throughout the world and the same basic Liturgy is celebrated, so that we knew we were still in prayerful union with those from home, as well as everywhere else. I don’t often reflect on that, but when somewhere distant I always remember it. Got a tip from the Priest on a hiking rail in the area, too! Met a nice family with 4 young children who loved seeing our “large” family. I find that having all these kids around us and actually seeming happy is a witness all by itself. After a lazy afternoon at the house, we decided we needed to “do” something, so we went to the nearby Petrified Forest. Not the most spectacular thing in the world, but interesting nonetheless. We are in the Black Hills, and we have hiked to the top of the nearest “mountain.” This is where I thought I’d lose a son or two… lot’s of rocky, cliffy areas and steep slopes. Somehow, we managed to make it back alive. It was also a reminder of my woeful state of physical conditioning.

6) Day 4 – Mount Rushmore. We loved it, but probably don’t have to say much about it. Ice Cream in Keystone (a family rule that cannot be broken: we must eat ice cream every day. It’s my rule. Everyone complies.) We toured a Gold Mine in Keystone and panned for gold.

7) Day 5 – Mammoth site – saw lots of bones. Pretty cool. Went to Wind Cave and explored a cave. Also pretty cool. (Literally- 53 degrees) Ice cream in Hill City.

8) Day 6 – Scenic Drive – Spearfish Canyone. Wonderful scenery. Did some hiking and saw a couple falls. Did lunch in the city of Lead, at Lewie’s. My wife read they had world-famous burgers there, so that’s what we had. Half-pounders. Sweet. I got mine with bacon. I don’t apologize for it. After that we went to Deadwood, which we suspected and then confirmed doesn’t have a whole lot to offer for children. Summary of Deadwood: Gambling, Food, Gambling, Saloons, Gambling, Old People, Gambling, Wild Bill Hickok, Gambling, Bikers, and Gambling. We did manage to find a museum that really wasn’t my thing, but my wife really enjoyed. Also, we had a round of Sarsparillas at the #10 Saloon, and saw a re-enactment of Wild Bill getting shot. This appears to be like the most amzingly historical event in history if all you had to go on was Deadwood. Ice Cream at the house.

9) Day 7 – Today – Badlands. One word: Awesome. We all hiked up in a few spots, saw some mule deer, and just really enjoyed the view. Then we felt obligated to go to the city of Wall and visit – you guessed it – Wall Drug. Yes, we allowed the signs to work. It’s a huge tourist trap and generally too expensive, and has all the elements that would usually lead me to want to put a bullet in my head rather than spend another minute there… but… we actually really enjoyed it! I wouldn’t spend a whole day there or anything, but I appreciated that they had a few things set up for little kids. They had good ice cream that wasn’t outrageous (yes, ice cream in Wall) and we did buy a few touristy things, but it wasn’t too bad. We all agreed that the Badlands/Wall day was a day well spent.

10) Tomorrow is Jewel Cave, Crazy Horse, and National Woodcarving Museum. Saturday is Rapid City, where we will go to Bear Country and a couple other things, and head back for Mass. Sunday we are driving all the way back to Wisconsin and expect to get home at about 1 am Monday morning, so please offer up another 5 second prayer for us.

Assessment at the moment is a thumbs up on SD! We know we are unable to see everything we want to see here, but we’re trying to get a taste of a lot of different things. So far, so good!

On to South Dakota

Hoping you all celebrated the Feast of the Assumption with Mass and contemplation…

I have put posting here as a lower priority lately, but will be picking it up more in September. Just so you do not think I have gone away forever, I thought I’d submit a quick post to let you know that we are embarking on a family vacation to South Dakota. The bus leaves tomorrow.

If (a very BIG if) I am bored and have some extra time I may post an update or two, but in all likelihood that won’t happen.

Anyone who is reading this, even a little 5-second prayer for safe travel for our family is appreciated.

God, our Father, through the intercession of our guardian angels, patron saints, St. Christopher, and our mother Mary, please grant that we may have safe travel and a blessed time as a family as we take in many wonders of your creation. Amen.

God bless all of you.

Two Blog Awards

Father Jose LaBoy at Biltrix has (a while ago) nominated me for two blog awards.

Now, this is the first time I’ve been nominated for such an honor. I admit that, as a general idiot, I had no idea what I am supposed to do. I thought people voted on something or another. So, I didn’t really respond, because I didn’t realize that it’s kind of a community-recognition-and-establishment thing.

Now that I’ve realized how the game is played, I have decided to accept the honor and attempt to abide by the rules.

Rule 1: Display the award logo on my blog. I am not clear on whether or not the image on the post suffices, or if I needed to actually figure out how to display as a widget. After a bit of cheating by just linking to someone else’s image, I now believe I’ve mastered the art of adding an image to the column on the right. They are at the bottom.

Rule 2: Link back to the blog of the person who nominated me. Done! Not only is there a link to the nomination post above, but Biltrix is part of my blogroll already. A great site that you should frequent often. (I think “frequent often” is redundant, but if ever a redundancy was to be redundant, then now is the time. And the moment, too.)

Rule 3: State 7 things about myself.

Oh, gosh. I’m blushing…

But rules are rules:
1) I am a father of 8 beuatiful children. They are beautiful except when they are reminding me of the effects of original sin. Which is actually quite often. But I love them all the more in these times because that’s what I’m called to do. OK, that may be a bit of a stretch. I know I’m supposed to love them more, but sometimes when I’m yelling at them and showing my own effects of original sin maybe I’m not. Come to think of it, I need to go to confession.

2) I am an actuary. If you need to ask what it is, you’d be asleep by the time my explanation was completed. God gifted me with a skill in Math. However, my personality is such that I sometimes wonder how I ended up here. But I am blessed to be able to support my family, even if I have to sit at a computer on beautifuul sunny days. Mid-winter actuarial work isn’t too bad, though.

3) I have released an independent Catholic Rock CD. I’m a horrible marketer, and I have no equipment to allow myself to promote the music in any way. It was a bucket-list thing I wanted to do. But even if nobody knows about it, I am still glad I did it, even if it means I will be buried with the 8 full boxes of CDs that currently reside in my music room.

4) I am a Green Bay Packer season ticket holder. Oh, yes I am! Still giddy over the Super Bowl win a couple years ago.

5) I love to garden. I save and grow many of my own seeds. Mainly vegetable gardening – I know almost nothing about flowers, but would like to learn. We have a 9,000 square foot garden. That is not a typo. It keeps us busy.

6) I waste too much time watching TV. I admit it. Nothing settles me down at the end of the day after the kids go to bed more than some Netflixed TV show or movie. Unfortunately, the kids get to bed later these days and I’m sometimes too stubborn and stupid to go to bed, too. My queue keeps expanding, too, so I feel pressure to watch more.

7) I’m woefully out of shape. I used to work out and play sports all the time. Egad. I’m afraid to get a blood test because (other than fainting, which I will do) I suspect there is a combination of ice cream and gravy running through my veins. I really need to get into shape. I do pay a monthly fee at a fitness center that I never use, so I figure that’s got to count for something.

Rule 4: Nominate other blogs and link to their sites. It seems as if most of the blogs I frequent already have these awards, so I am not entirely sure if I should nominate them again or not. So I won’t, but know that I would. Yes… all of you. Every blog that has these awards, I would nominate you. Even those I don’t know about.

Nominations:
Authentic Catholicism. Both awards. I don’t know if I’m supposed to talk about them or not, and it seems like it’s best just to click on the link and see for yourself.
Fratres Orate. Both awards. If you want to go to a site and get depressed at all that’s wrong in the world, this is a good one… OK, that may not be a great introduction… but I’m serious in that we need to know about things that are going on, and he highlights a lot of the uncomfortable things that we nevertheless should be aware of.
Patrick Vandapool Both awards. I’ll be perfectly honest. I haven’t quite figured this guy out completely, and while I love a lot of what he says I don’t love everything he says. But he cracks me up. So that counts for something.
Public Catholic Both awards. Politics and Catholicism does mix. And I am opinionated in the political arena, so I won’t even say I agree with everything on the blog. But I do really appreciate someone who is not afraid to be public and open regarding her Catholicism while also serving in Public Office.
Divine Lamp Illuminating blogger award. I can’t give it the Lovely Blog award, because it looks like my college term paper. But it’s packed with a ton of resources and information.
Life Vigil. Illuminating blogger. What a wonderful resource for news in the battle for life!

Final rule: let others know I nominated them and give them the rules. Well, I’ll let them know, and link to this post so they can see the rules.

Thanks for the honor, Father!