My Father-In-Law, Dan

I'm sitting here continuing to reflect on the day, the weekend, and the week.  I was doing this all the way home on the plane from Dallas and I'm not done yet.  I suspect I may lie awake in bed for a while tonight continuing to think, ponder, and pray.

Let me bring you up to speed.  On Tuesday I got a phone call from my Mother-in-Law, Linda (aka Nana).  Dan was struggling and having some problems.  Talking to the doctor she pushed for an answer and was told that the doctor was guessing that Dan only had 2 to 4 weeks to live given his current rate of decline.  A. and I had some discussions and the decision was made that we would all fly down to visit - G. and I for the weekend, A. for the duration - however long that was.  We all went down on Friday with G. and I coming back today.

Dan is on some serious pain killers and spends a lot of time sleeping.  He has periods of great lucidity and periods where he doesn't want to communicate.  His mornings are much better than evenings.  We watched the Steelers/Ravens game together yesterday.  He was happy that the Steelers were going to the Superbowl and disappointed that his beloved Cowboys were out.  He's rooting for the Steelers in two weeks.

Today I went shopping out at Costco.  I enjoyed a hot dog for him.  Over the years of visiting him he always made sure that I understood it was right and proper to enjoy a hot dog on the weekend.  I've been trying to have a hot dog out every weekend for a few years and every time I do I think of him.  I guess that this is a habit that I will pass on to others with stories about Dan.

I had to say goodbye to him this afternoon to get to the airport to come home.  It was a very hard goodbye for me realizing that it was, in all likely hood, my last time to see him alive.  I am already missing the father of my bride.  I can see that it is his time and it was remarkable seeing how death comes to us.  His appetite is getting weak.  He is still drinking lots of water but the nurse says that will be stopping as well.  He is in bed and won't be getting up again as he continues to get weaker and needs others to take care of his needs.  I recommend Tuesdays with Morrie for a better description of what is happening to Dan.

So for a short time I've loaned my wife back to her father so that she can help nurse him and take care of him.  I miss her as well but, God Willing, I will get her back soon after she has had the opportunity to say her goodbyes.

I love you Dan.  God speed.  Please put in a good word with the Lord for me when you get there.  You will missed, but not forgotten.  May God Bless you.

FOCA Novena

I received this e-mail and wanted to pass it along to all of you.  I am participating in this Novena.

If you are opposed to abortion then there is bad news on the horizon.  For those of you who do not know, the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is set to be signed if congress passes it on January 21-22 of 2009.  FOCA would essentially remove all restrictions on abortion, including moral objections by health care providers.

The Plan:

To say a novena, 9 days of prayer, along with fasting starting on January 11th. For Catholics, the prayer of choice will be the Rosary with intentions to stop the FOCA.  For non Catholics I encourage you to pray your strongest prayers with the same intentions, also for nine consecutive days.  The hope is that this will branch and blossom as to become a global effort with maximum impact.  We have very little time so we all must act fast.  Just do three things:

1. Pass this letter to 5 or more people
   
2. Do it in three days or less
   
3. Start the novena on January 11th and pray for nine consecutive days.
   

(please also fast for at least two days during the novena)

Remember that with God all things are possible and the power of prayer is undeniable.  The time is now to do something to save the unborn!

May God bless you all!!

"We cannot fight credibly against other social and moral evils, including poverty and violence, while we tolerate mass killings by abortion."

- Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Government Plans to Overhaul Healthcare

The New York Times is reporting that Tom Daschle is preparing to have the government overhaul the US Healthcare system.  Tom is saying that the deepening recession is going to create more uninsured and that many uninsured people face financial bankruptcy when they get sick.  I agree with Tom that these are serious issues.  Very serious.  But I'm more scared of Tom and his plans.

Everytime the government says that they want to help me and make my life better they make my life worse.  They "reformed" campaign finances and the political ads got worse and I was told it was illegal for me to exercise my right to free speech.  I smell universal health care in the wind.  Those with no insurance will get some.  We will all have long waits.  And the US taxpayer will be paying for everyone's health care.  We need change.  Let's put doctors back in charge of their patients, reduce malpractive lawsuits, and get the government OUT of healthcare.

Poll: When will you take down your Christmas decorations?

The poll, "When will you take down your Christmas decorations?" is now closed.  There was only one registerd vote (mine) and the results are:

They're already down:  0%

New Year's Day:  0%

The first weekend of the new year:  0%

After Epiphany:  100% (yea me!)

I will leave them up for next year:  0%

Though Curtis did sneak a vote in via the comments for a split between the first weekend of the new year and after Epiphany.  Thanks Curtis.

Have a great day and may God Bless you!

Finally Tried An Original at Tommy Pastrami

The address I had was in Santa Ana but I never found that store. Instead, I found the one on Irvine Center Drive. It was a tasty sandwich and I really enjoyed. The rye bread was phenomenal. The meat was tasty, too. I think it’s a toss up between The Hat and Tommy Pastrami. I guess I’ll have to eat at both again to compare and decide which I like better. It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it. It may as well be me. Yummy!

See more progress on: Eat an Original Pastrami at Tommy Pastrami (http://www.ocweekly.com/2008-10-23/food/tommys/)

New Poll: When will you take down your Christmas decorations?

New poll on my blog:  When will you take down your Christmas decorations?

Possible answers:

• They're already down
  
• New Year's Day
  
• The first weekend of the new year
  
• After Epiphany
  
• I will leave them up for next year
  

Poll closes in 6 days.  Vote now!

Long New Year's this year

Are you ready for an extra long New Year's celebration this year?  There will be a leap second!  This extra second is inserted between the end of 2008 and the start 0f 2009.  The clock will reach 11:59 and 60 seconds and pause for an entire second before it reaches 12:00 and 00 seconds the following day.  That's right, 2008 will end and 2009 will start a second later.  We have a second out of time with no year attached.  It is a rogue second - we'll be in neither 2008 or 2009.

You can find the leap second news here:  http://www.space.com/spacewatch/081226-ns-leap-year.html

What will you do with your leap second?  I plan on kissing my wife for that extra second.  That is, if I'm still awake.

Where will you be during your leap second?  At this point I'm planning on being home.

Porta-Pot Shot Rocket is assembled

The Porta-Pot Shot Rocket is now assembled and ready to fly. An easy kit, it only took an hour or two. Now I’m 67% complete on this goal – just waiting for the next launch. Expected completion date is January 10, 2009.

See more progress on: Build and fly an Estes Porta-Pot Shot rocket

Got a Porta-Pot Shot for Christmas

My lovely wife gave me a Porta-Pot Shot kit for Christmas so I’m one third of the way towards accomplishing this goal:

1/3 Acquire kit, done
2/3 Assemble kit, haven’t started
3/3 Fly kit, Planned for Jan 10, 2009

See more progress on: Build and fly an Estes Porta-Pot Shot rocket

Church embraces new media

There is an article on the AP (see link above) that says the Church is in favor of a iPhone application called iBreviary.  The Breviary contains all of the daily prayers and such that Priests are supposed to pray - the lay people are also welcome to say the same prayers but are not required to.  Vatican approval was cited in the following paragraph:

"Monsignor Paul Tighe, secretary of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications, praised the new application Monday, saying the Church "is learning to use the new technologies primarily as a tool or as a mean of evangelizing, as a way of being able to share its own message with the world.""

How cool is that?  I need to work on a Podcast...

Obligation or enjoyment or stress relief?

This morning I went to the gym to workout again under the guidance of my trainer (Hey Joanne!).  During the workout we chatted on various topics and I admitted that I hadn't worked out since last Tuesday.  I had all of the excuses - mandatory meetings, layoffs, and family activities conspired to keep me out of the gym.  She asked me if I thought going to the gym was an obligation or a way to relieve stress.  Hmm, insightful question!

I think it's obvious that a person doesn't get a shape like mine because exercise and working out are "fun".  Eating foods high in fat, sugar, and salt and sleeping are my preferred ways of dealing with stress.  Although I have to admit I do feel better after working out.  Perhaps if I weighed less and were stronger the workouts would be more "fun".

So, to answer Joanne's question, going to the gym still feels like an obligation but I like working with her, I do want to get stronger and fitter, and I like the way that I feel afterwards.  But its still a struggle to go workout.  I'm happy I went this morning and I'm looking forward to the end of the next session.

Faith?

Faith, it's a funny thing or maybe I either don't have it or have enough of it.  I'm not sure.  The iPdare was talking about some stuff in a recent podcast that got me wondering.  So, I went and found references on the 'net.

The title of the article was, "The sign of the cross and Orthodox prayer are capable of killing microbes and change the optical properties of water."  The article claimed that saying a blessing and making the Sign of the Cross in the Orthodox manner over food and water purified it and killed pathogens.  The person making the Sign of the Cross did not have to be a believer in order for the miracle to work.

The website that I found the article on reminds me of the tabloids at the check-out in the grocery store.  Here is my conundrum.  If I say that this can't be true am I then putting a limit on God?  Certainly God could accomplish this - it's a very tiny miracle from his point of view I am sure.  I suspect that it's a sin not to believe that God could do this.  OK, I believe that God "could" do this.  I am, however, very skeptical that he does do this.  So read the article and tell me what you think.

Podcast Status

iTunes is reporting that I now have 489 new podcasts occupying 11.79 GB and it will take me 10 days to listen to it all.  Currently I am listening to:

• Catholic Rockers - pod faded
  
• David Allen Company Podcast - pod faded
• Going Fourth - pod faded
• iPadre Catholic Podcasting - active
• The ManlyCatholic Pdocast - active
  
• Maximum Impact Podcast - pod faded
• pray-as-you-go - active
• Rosary Army Catholic Podcast - stopped broadcasting
• That Catholic Show (Video) - pod faded

Wen I started listening to the ManlyCatholic I went back in time to the beginning of the podcast, episode 1.  I'm at about the halfway point.  I'm trying to get through the rest of the podcasts so that I'm current on all of them but it'll take me a while.

No Rocket Launch Today

"Due to sustained high winds on the lake bed, we have decided to CANCEL today's launch.  We apologize for the late notice, but we had been hoping that conditions on the lake bed would be better.

The next launch will be in January."

So said the official e-mail at 7:40 AM.  Of course, we were on the lake bed for an hour at that point.  We saw what they call rockets and they're not kits from Estes.  There was one that was so big, even in half it wouldn't fit in the bed of the pickup but had to hang over.  It was fiberglass coated, 10ish inches in diameter and I'm guessing over 12' tall.

We pick up two really small tumble recovery rockets from the vendor that was there and picked up our badges that are good for all of next year.  Time to build more model rockets and fly in our imagination.

Words & Slang, kinda like Bangers & Mashers

I love to learn the stories of slang words and slang expressions.  Things like "caught red handed", "lock, stock, and barrel", "balls to the wall", and "freeze the balls off of a brass monkey".  Btw, none of these are "dirty" and are perfectly fine in mixed company if you know where they came from.  I friend (Hi Bill!) sent me a link for "Bob's Your Uncle, Lame Duck, Malarkey, Dressed to the Nines, MindYour P's and Q's, and Uxorious".  Enjoy!  I sure did.

Orange & Yellow Hi-Flier

I finally completed the building of the Estes Hi-Flier Model Rocket Kit that I started. It's ready to fly and the launch is next Saturday. It'll be her maiden flight with a 1/2A6-2 engine. It may fly with one of the following as well: A8-3, A8-5, B4-4, B6-4, C6-5, or C6-7. The C6-7 is supposed to send it up over 1675 feet! It'll be long out of site at that altitude. I wonder if we'll pick it up visually as it falls back to earth from that height. If we get video of it's flight(s) we'll let you know about it. I'm excited and can hardly wait until next Saturday!

The Gospel Truth

Marriage, when it's good there is nothing better.  Marriage Partnership had another great article this week.  Some questions I need to ask my wife more often: 

1. What can I do to help you?
   
2. How can I make your life easier?
   
3. How can I be a better husband?
   

I believe that asking these questions in my marriage is the best thing that I can do for my marriage.  The problem is that asking these questions requires humility.  Humility is a virtue with which I struggle.  I need to pray and ask for the humility to ask my wife these questions often.  Please pray for me to have the humility to not only ask but then do.  God Bless you.

Abortion a right?

In an article from Catholic News Service there is the following paragraph:

"On Dec. 10, the U.N. General Assembly also was to be presented with a petition to make abortion a universally recognized human right."

I find this to be very disturbing and more reason to dislike the UN.  I've believed for a long time that the US should get out of the UN.  This is one more reason. But I digress...

Let's talk about why this is a problem.  It comes down to my beliefs that abortion is wrong.  I do support a woman's right to do what she wants to do with her own body.  If she wants to tattoo her skin or piece a body part then she should go for it.  I might not like those actions but I won't stand in the way.  But the unborn baby in her womb is NOT part of her body.  I believe that life begins at conception and the fertilized egg is a new and different person.  Yes, the baby requires food, water, warmth, and oxygen from it's mother in order to live but so does a newborn.  In fact, pretty much every person under the age of about 2 still requires all of that from their parents.  If a 2 year old is a person then so is the unborn baby.

The discussion to have is when does a person acquire "personhood".  Killing a person with personhood is murder - legal or otherwise.  I believe that life begins at conception and so it is logical that abortion is murder.  Abortion before life begins would not be murder and we have no argument.  When do you say that life begins and why?

The 25 Days of Christmas????

ABC has an advertising campaign going on right now called "The 25 Days of Christmas".  They claim that the 25 days of Christmas are Dec 1 - 25.  They couldn't be more wrong.  They are misleading people into thinking that Christmas ends on the 25th when that is actually the day that it starts.

I had wanted to be counter-cultural and wait until Christmas eve to turn on our Christmas lights and then have them on until the Epiphany.  My wife and son wanted them on now.  Now when they're on until Epiphany it won't be seen as the counter-cultural statement that I wanted it to be - it'll just look like I'm lazy.

I protest against ABC's 25 Days of Christmas.

Poll: When do you put up your Christmas decorations?

The answers and tallies:

• After Halloween:  0 (0%)
• After Thanksgiving:  0 (0%)
• During Advent:  1 (100%)
• I never took them down:  0 (0%)
  

Total votes:  1  (me!)

Poll closed

There'll be a new poll soon.