New life! Today we had a special Mass to confirm one of our RCIA candidates who was not able to join the Church at the Easter vigil. Please pray for our newest neophyte, V, who has been battling cancer. It was a small but beautiful Mass, and I couldn't help but reflect on the aptness of the readings for today (the feast of the Visitation of Mary) to the occasion. God works in mysterious ways! Another example of a mysterious thing -- no weddings during that time. Saturday in late May, prime time for weddings, especially at Ss. Peter and Paul; but there were no weddings today. God is good!

I went back to the dentist today for my last quadrant of periodontal treatment. The hygenist was very impressed and pleased with my progress, my gums are much healthier and while it's not possible to undo the bone loss I experienced, it looks like the disease itself is under control. When I first went in a month ago I had pretty severe bleeding from my gums when they probed them etc. Today during my treatment there was almost no bleeding at all. Good stuff!

Someone pointed out to me (don't remember who/where) how weird we are about these things. If any other part of your body was bleeding you'd be alarmed, you'd do something, you'd take care of it. Yet if your gums bleed it's easy to think "I must be brushing too hard" or "I just have sensitive gums." Normal, healthy gums shouldn't bleed!. If your gums are bleeding, go to the dentist now and check it out!

We've been having some wacky weather lately -- Visitor is wet - and welcome. Yes, for us rain in late May is newsworthy since May and June are ordinarily very hot and very dry. This afternoon the winds have picked up and it looks like it's raining down south of our offices.

A bunch of us were looking south out the windows of the office (we're on the 3rd floor) and one of those stereotypical moments happened -- the wind had grown to fever pitch and a couple of women (probably legal assistants, or maybe from one of the mortgage brokers in the building) were pushing these steel carts with boxes of documents out to the parking lot. They apparently didn't see the curb, and so when they went over the curb one of the carts overturned, and the wind whisked the top off of a box and POOF! documents flying everywhere, being swept by the wind. It was funny, but I felt sorry for the women and whoever owned the documents.

Here's a cool article from NewsForge about VNC: Virtually there and back again. VNC is a free remote desktop client and server that allows you to view the entire Windows or XWindows desktop on a different machine. If you have multiple machines to manage it can make life a lot simpler and easier.

Happy Birthday Bob Hope!

CNN salutes Bob Hope on his 100th birthday. Bob Hope is a classic. To me he exemplified something somewhat rare in show biz these days, a man who had a lot of success but still believed in service, and who gave a lot of time and effort to serve his country.

From CNN, a classic conflict of state and religion -- Muslim woman fights to keep on veil for driver's license photo. The woman claims that the state doesn't have the right to take her picture. This in spite of the fact that in most Islamic countries women do not cover their faces in I.D. pictures.

This raises a whole host of issues, of course. What if one's religion prohibits one from paying taxes, or getting any kind of ID card, or handling money, or any one of dozens of such possibilities? While I'm sensitive to the idea of modesty and respect for religion, these sorts of issues are hard to balance.

A sad day in Tucson -- TPD officer killed while chasing man. This is the first officer killed in the line of duty since 1982 in Tucson.
Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace.

Happy Memorial Day

President Bush Honors the Brave and Fallen Defenders of Freedom. I hope you can take a moment to remember the fallen, too.

Their sacrifice was great, but not in vain. All Americans and every free nation on earth can trace their liberty to the white markers of places like Arlington National Cemetery. And may God keep us ever grateful.

As if all that other stuff wasn't enough, after the concert Amber Lee and I went to see "Bruce Almighty" (Noel decided to go home and sleep, the wimp!). It was enjoyable, although I don't think I'd care to see it more than once. As is typical of Jim Carrey movies there was a lot of physical humor. Parts of it were really quite funny. Of course there was the deeper message behind the humor -- that God really does love us, that prayer matters, that learning to love others selflessly is how we can grow in love for God. The story line was predictable and you could see the ending about a mile off. Still, I'm a sucker for movies like this. It was a lot of fun. Check it out.

While I was at the Reid Park concert I bumped into my stepfather, Fred. Fred married my mother in 1982, and they were married for about 2 years when she contracted lung cancer and died. They were, I think, the happiest two years of her life, for which I will always be grateful to him. He has been teaching at The University of Arizona(tm) for a while in the Nutrition department (my mom got her master's degree in nutrition -- it's how they met), but I rarely see him. It was really nice to talk with him for a bit and catch up. He remarried some time ago to a very nice violist who was playing at the concert last night.

Saturday evening I went to a concert of the Catalina Chamber Orchestra at Reid Park. This is one of those free evening concerts in the park that Tucson is famous for -- we are really quite spoiled. The weather was terrific and the music was good. I went with Amber Lee, and our mutual friend Noel was performing in one of the pieces (the Fauré Elegie). Here's the program:

Catalina Chamber Orchestra
Dr. Enrique Lasansky, Artistic Director
May 24, 2003
Demeester Outdoor Performance Center

Young Artists Concert

Program

Franz Joseph Haydn
Piano Concerto in D major, Hob. XVII:11
Jennifer Bao, piano
Junior Competition Winner

Don't Quit
A poem
Cheryl Copeland
Soccer Mom and Community Activist

Gabriel Fauré
Elegie, Opus 24
Devin Kim, cello
Senior Competition Winner

Serge Prokofiev
Peter and the Wolf
Barbara Grijalva, narrator
KOLD-TV Anchor


The Fauré was nice, as was the Haydn. The poem was... trite. I'm not sure what the point was, but it was the kind of poem you hear at every high school graduation (almost). And the Prokofiev was nice, but I like it much better without the narration.

Saturday during the day I went to the final retreat for our Living Stones program. It was a great retreat, and it was wonderful to spend some more quality time with this group of people I've been with for 3.5 years. We've all grown pretty close, and while we certainly don't always agree, there is a great deal of love and respect among us. The Church is blessed to have people like this serving her. The theme of the retreat was "A Time for Treasuring" with a focus on Mary's reflection and contemplation (Lk 2:51). We were invited to reflect on what we have achieved, and where we are going, and what God is calling us to do next. One thing we were invited to do was to write our own form of the Magnificat. In my case it metamorphosed into this:

Gordon's Canticle of Praise

Lord, I am tired.
Weary.
I've done too much for too long.
I need rest.
I want to rest in You.
I know I can find peace there
In the quiet place
Alone with You.

Lately I've been afraid
Of being alone
Of growing old
Of pain, disease, death.
But I know that in You
And with You
I'm never alone
And ever new.

John Paul II reminded us
As his first words
That You said
"Be not afraid!"
Help me now, Lord
To trust in You, as Mary did,
That Your promise will be again
Fulfilled.

I'm not sure exactly how it is a Canticle of Praise, but that's what I'm calling it.

Victor Lams is a blogging genius. A singing (what, no dancing?) genius.

Bill Gates isn't all evil. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is going to help build a new Catholic high school on Tucson's south side.

Whoo-ee! Some students have been getting to see more of school staff than usual -- Nude photo layout rocks TUSD. A high school counselor posed nude for an adult magazine. What was she thinking?

This is pretty disturbing -- Prime Time Porn. Pornography has become a billion-dollar business and there doesn't seem to be any way to stop it.

Obscenity cases have proved increasingly difficult to prosecute, however, as digital technology and the pervasiveness of sexual imagery have weakened the Supreme Court's famous 1973 decision holding that "community standards" are the crucial factor. In other words, market forces may ultimately decide what kind of porn will be piped to a video screen near you.

The Arizona Daily Star had an article yesterday on building trust in transportation. There's a good quote from the chairman of the Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee on which I sit.

Alex Rodriguez, a market research manager at Raytheon Missile Systems who chairs a citizens transportation committee for the city, said efforts to re-establish trust are "right on the money."

"All the elected officials and city staff must keep trust at the forefront of their thinking; otherwise they won't have support for their decisions," he said.

My friend Jenn called me tonight to tell me that a cousin of hers had committed suicide yesterday sometime. Please pray for the family, and for him that in his last moments of life he came to final repentance. Thanks.

Okay, I originally meant it as a joke, but I'm thinking it's not a bad idea. Therefore, I've started Gordon's Sk8er Boi Blog. Seriously! From now on I'm going to post all my skating and skating-related posts there, and only there. So if you want to read about my skating exploits you'll have to go there, otherwise keep reading here. Sorry for those of you who will have to then read two blogs instead of just one, but I think it's just as well.

It's occurred to me that lately my readers (both of you!) may be concerned that this blog is turning into Gordon's Sk8er Boi Blog. Don't fear, I have lots of other things to talk about, and I will!

Tonight was the very last regular meeting of our Living Stones class. Living Stones is a lay leadership formation program for the Diocese of Tucson. The culmination of 3.5 years of study. It was a nice session; we had a potluck dinner, did an evaluation of our last course, discussed our commencement Mass (June 1st) and had some final prayer and reflection time together. It's been a long haul but it's been very, very worthwhile and I'm really glad I did it. I'm especially glad for all the support I received from my pastor, Fr. John Lyons, and all the staff at Ss. Peter and Paul. All that's left now is our final retreat this coming Saturday (5/24) and the commencement Mass at the Cathedral June 1st. Whew!

Annnnnd.... tomorrow I get to skate! (sorry, couldn't resist!)

More skating reading -- Julie Learns to Skate. This is a diary of an adult skater who spent a solid couple of years learning to skate. Sadly (at least, I think so) she didn't keep up with her lessons. It seems like she certainly learned a lot in that time (and faster than I do!). I guess for adult skaters a lot depends on how much enjoyment you get out of it, and what your successes and motivations are. Julie also wrote a very cool Layperson's Guide to Lutzes and Loops that's worth reading even if you only watch skating on TV.

Whee! I am tired, but happy. I got to Gateway about 7 or so and went in the pro shop. Unfortunately (but not surprisingly) 3/4 or more of the shop is hockey stuff, with just a little bit of figure skating gear, and most of that clearly aimed at little girls. If I understood the guy aright, they don't carry men's figure skates in my size. They would measure me for them and I'd have to wait for them to come in. I'm not too thrilled at that, I'd rather try them on and make sure they are okay. I'm considering going to Phoenix sometime to get skates.

Anyway, the public session didn't start 'til 7:35 due to the Zamboni being a bit late. But nice, fresh ice! It was gorgeous. It was not crowded at all, maybe 5 people at the beginning and it probably peaked at 10 tops. For the last 15 minutes or so it was just myself and a hockey player practicing his moves.

The one stupid thing tonight was that my skates just didn't feel right. They felt strange around the ankle and just a bit too tight. After half an hour of this I decided I'd had it and went back to ask for a different set. "Oh!" the guy behind the counter says, "you have women's skates!". Sheesh! Of course this was not the same person who had handed me the skates to begin with. NOTE TO SELF: At Gateway, at least, men's skates have red on the back, women's have black!

So I got a new set of skates and went back on the ice. Wow, what a difference! I felt great. All in all I spent about an hour or so just working on my forward swizzles. It took me a while but I finally started getting the hang of it. It's a question of keeping the weight toward the back of the foot and using the inside edge. I was really beginning to feel the edge! It was very cool. I then spent the rest of the time working on forward glides and I started experimenting with stroking, which just kind of happened naturally.

I'm really very pleased. I'm also quite tired. I tried to take frequent breaks after the first hour or so, figuring I needed them. I didn't really feel THAT tired until I left Gateway and got in my car, actually -- at which point I really felt tired, mostly in my shoulders (?) and my lower legs. I think at this point I ice skate almost as well as I rollerblade -- pretty amazing, really (also tells you a lot about my rollerblading skills :-)).

I think I'm starting to obsess a bit about skating. This would make sense if I actually knew what I am doing, but since I don't yet, it's just... strange. I have to admit that every time yesterday and today when I've said to myself "I'm going skating Monday night" I get a little thrill down my spine. Weird, I know. I'm going to go early tonight so I can go to the pro shop and look at skates. If there are some reasonably priced ones I will probably buy some -- these rental skates are driving me nuts! The only question is, white or black? I've always had this thing for white skates but I suspect black would be both more customary for a man and also probably look better on me -- so I'll probably go with black.

In case you thought you'd seen everything, the Arizona Daily Star's Bonnie Henry unearths Our Lady of Guadalupe Spray. Yep. I bet you thought you'd seen every variety of Catholic kitsch, but nope, there's new stuff. At least the diocese is, as always, hard-headed:

"I feel very confident none of these products carries the approval of the Roman Catholic Church," says Fred Allison, spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Tucson.

"There is no limit to the inventiveness and imagination of folks wanting to make a buck."

On the other hand, says Allison, "There is a marketing of various goods Catholics regard as sacramentals, such as statues and holy cards.

"But spraying this spray around your house is not going to mean any less time out of purgatory."

I probably shouldn't admit it in a public forum, but I watched the last half or so of ABC's "The Bachelor" tonight. I had missed most of the series, actually, but I had thought on watching a bit of it several weeks ago that he should pick Jen as she seemed the smartest, most honest and level-headed, and overall good character AND pretty (what a combo!). So I was quite pleased that he did, in fact, pick Jen. Hooray for common sense (in an overall ridiculous situation!). He asked her to marry him and she said "Yes" quite enthusiastically. I hope this one works out better than some of the other shows of this sort.

I had my audition for the Tucson Symphony Orchestra chorus today. The TSO is celebrating their 75th anniversary this year, which makes them the oldest performing arts organization in Arizona, at least. The audition went reasonably well. It consisted of:

1. A prepared piece. In my case, this was Caccini's "Amarilli, Mia Bella". I did pretty nicely on it, I thought. I was quite pleased with the way I sounded and the director had a slightly goofy smile on his face. I couldn't decide if the smile meant, "Oh Lord, not the Caccini again", or "gosh, that sounds nice" or simply "what a cheesy song!".
   
2. I sang a brief excerpt from the Handel Messiah ("His Yoke is Easy"). Since it's a piece I know well I was comfortable with it and it was fine.
   
3. I sang a brief excerpt from the Verdi Requiem. This was not so fine. In particular, there was a minor third that I knew might be an issue, and I had worked on it, and I still goofed it the first time. He let me do it again though and I got it. Overall I guess this part was okay.
   
4. Tonal memory. The pianist played a 3-note pattern, a 4-note, and a 5-note. I am pretty sure I nailed 'em all. YAY!
   
5. Language/rhymthic reading. They were in Latin and German. Overall pretty easy, although I did miss a couple of small rhythmic things. I think my diction and pronunciation were good except for one spot of German.
   
6. Sight reading -- two excerpts. The first was Palestrina's "Sicut Cervus" which I mostly have memorized, so this was quite easy. The second was a Gloria by Argento. I did less well on this, I worried so much about the rhythm I sang some bad notes.
   

All in all I was pretty happy with how it went. They are supposed to let us know "soon" how we did etc. One nice point was that the pianist for today was a woman I know from school, which was a nice calming influence. Also the person before me was a tenor I know from Collegium, he had several solos in the last Collegium Musicum concert.

Music for Mass
Kathie O'Sullivan, piano
Gordon Zaft, cantor
5th Sunday of Easter

Gathering Song: Morning Has Broken (BUNESSAN)
Penitential Rite: spoken
Gloria: Ss. Peter and Paul Gloria (Schiavone)
Responsorial Psalm: (OCP Respond & Acclaim)
Gospel Acclamation: Celtic Alleluia (Walker) w/verse of the day
Preparation of the Gifts: We Have Been Told (Haas)
Holy,Holy: Mass of Creation (Haugen)
Memorial Acclamation: Mass of Creation (Haugen)
Great Amen: Mass of Creation (Haugen)
Our Father: Yantis
Lamb of God: Mass of Creation (Haugen)
Communion: Gift of Finest Wheat (Kreutz)
Recessional: Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow (OLD HUNDREDTH)

Sometimes it's difficult to sing at Mass. I had two very different experiences of that this morning. The first was in the Ss. Peter and Paul Gloria. I know this piece well, but it's usually been singing the tenor part. I was concerned about it and practiced it with the pianist before Mass pretty extensively. I think I still slipped and sang the tenor line a couple of times. Fortunately that was only on stuff I was singing by myself so I didn't lead the congregation astray.

The second moment was one of those things that many church musicians probably experience. I was singing "Gift of Finest Wheat", which is one of my favorite Communion songs. As I sang the 4th verse ("The myst'ry of your presence, Lord, No mortal tongue can tell: Whom all the world cannot contain comes in our hearts to dwell.") I almost choked up and started crying. I made it through okay, though. I guess that's not a bad problem to have in some respects.

Happy Birthday Holy Father!

Today is John Paul II's 83rd birthday and he is celebrating by canonizing saints. Ad multos annos!

Last night I went to the evening public session at Gateway Ice Center. This was my first time going there other than for a lesson. There were probably about 20 people when the session started (7:30) and later it was probably more like 30. This is not really that crowded. Of course I felt pretty dorky doing my little stuff that I know how to do (walking, brief two-foot glides, and swizzles) but I kept at it and managed to get all the way around the rink (close to the wall, of course) a couple of times. I feel I'm making okay progress. More importantly, perhaps, I did enjoy it and it's coming along. I was there for about 40 minutes and then I had to go. I'm hoping to go tomorrow night too.

Ice Break! Tucson hit 100 degrees for the first time this year at 12:48 p.m. yesterday. Whew! I was out working on my swamp cooler. Bonnie Henry writes in the Arizona Daily Star:

Do not moan. Do not curse. Do not book the next flight to San Diego.

Rejoice.

Without a steady stream of such days every year, our population would have surely swelled past 1 million souls years ago.

Check out this cool picture of last night's Lunar disappearing act. I went on a walk in Sabino Canyon with some folks from Tucson Faculty Singles, we had a really great time and the weather and view of the eclipse were spectacular!

I came across a very cool website today while Googling -- Figure Skating Journal, Reflections of an Adult Figure Skater. It's neat to see other grownups skating and read their reflections on it. I've only skimmed this site so far but I suspect I will spend a lot of time reading it.

I had my second ice skating lesson tonight at Gateway Ice Center. I was a little disturbed because a) my instructor from last week (Dawn) wasn't there, and b) there was another student so I didn't have the instructor all to myself this time. Still, it went very well and I got more comfortable on the ice. I worked on my two-foot glide a bit and learned the swizzle. The swizzle is a very simple move where you point your toes out and glide so your feet part, then turn your toes in so your feet come together again. I was practicing that for about 10 minutes or so and it was finally starting to come together. YAY! Then my lesson was over. I was going to stay and practice a bit, but they were going to Zamboni the ice and I didn't feel like waiting around. I need to go and practice some more sometime before next week, anyway.

This is pretty cool -- Wilbur pops his buttons: 3 asteroids honor UA. "The International Astronomical Union Small Bodies Names Committee has approved "Wildcat" and two other monikers suggested by noted amateur astronomer David Levy of Tucson." I'm really glad The University of Arizona(tm) is getting this recognition in honor of its many contributions to astronomy.

I've decided to audition for the new Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus. This is a new group that will perform Handel's Messiah and the Verdi Requiem their first year. I'm a little torn about it as joining them would mean I would have to give up Collegium Musicum, which has been a lot of fun. Still, it might be good to change things up a bit. At least, auditioning will be a good experience. I've decided to sing Caccini's "Amarilli Mia Bella", one of the infamous 24 Italian Songs. I've always thought the name of the book was "24 Italian Songs You Like To Sing", but when I dug mine out last night I realized that's not the actual title. Maybe it's a bit of brainwashing from my undergraduate days that has just stayed with me.

Well, it appears that summer is finally here. Saturday's high was a beautiful, gorgeous 80 degrees (Fahrenheit). Yesterday's was 96, and it looks like the ice could break on the Santa Cruz on Saturday [1].

There are really two summers in Tucson. The first is the hot, dry summer which starts as early as mid-April and as late as mid-May (like this year). It consists of temperatures generally in the low 100s, sometimes reaching up to 108 or even 110 (rare). The humidity usually ranges from 12 to 18 per cent (quite dry). This part of the season is actually quite nice, because the dry air doesn't hold heat well and the evenings are wondrously nice and reasonably cool.

The second summer is monsoon season. The monsoon usually starts around July 4th and lasts until mid to late September. It's characterized by monsoonal flow (winds from the southeast drawing moist air from the Gulf of Mexico), the "daily 4 o'clock thunderstorm", high winds, abundant lightning, and the occasional flash floods and hail. It's somewhat cooler but more humid (especially, of course, when it's actually raining). Tucson gets about half of its yearly rainfall (yearly total averages 12 inches) from July to September, about 6 inches of rain on average. It's a wonderful season.

While I love monsoon season, as a person who dwells in an older house I much prefer the dry part of the summer. This is because my house is cooled by an evaporative ("swamp") cooler. Swamp coolers are inexpensive to operate and work well when it's dry, but in monsoon season with the increased humidity (dew points in the high 50s) they work poorly.

[1] It's customary in Tucson to refer to the first day when the temperature exceeds 100 degrees as the day the ice breaks on the Santa Cruz River. Due to groundwater pumping the Santa Cruz has not had daily flow in decades; like all of Tucson's rivers it only flows during periods of heavy rain.

I had some unexpected free time tonight, so I went rollerblading at Reid Park. In spite of the fact that I just went a week and a half ago, I felt like I'd totally forgotten how to move since the last time. It was very hard to get started, for some reason. After the first 5 minutes or so it started coming back quickly, though. I was out for an hour and worked up a good sweat. About halfway through I stopped to take a breather and sat on a bench, and while I was sitting down who should walk up but Fast Eddie (from Fast Eddie's Skate School). He was very cordial and seemed glad to see that I am still skating. It was nice to see him. I should probably go back to school with him since all I can really do right now is basic stroking and two-foot gliding. I'm kind of hoping that some of my ice skating skills will be transferable, though, and anyway I really only have time and energy for one class at a time. Maybe in the fall..

A big CONGRATULATIONS to my friend Nikki, who successfully defended her dissertation (clinical psychology) today! She's now Dr. Nikki!

While surfing the web the other day I came across this neat article by Fr. John McCloskey, The Seven Daily Habits of Holy Apostolic People. Fr. McCloskey is a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei, so of course it's orthodox and Good Stuff. I'll summarize (but read the article, it's great!):

1. Morning offering
   
2. 15 minutes of silent prayer
   
3. 15 minutes of spiritual reading
   
4. Holy Mass (and think, how often do we neglect to say "Holy" before "Mass")
   
5. Praying the Angelus (or Regina Coeli as appropriate)
   
6. Holy Rosary
   
7. Examination of Conscience
   

This would all make for a pretty good plan of life, actually. It probably adds up to 90 minutes or so a day. Really not that much, actually. As Fr. McCloskey says, you wouldn't need to try to add all this to your schedule at once -- it's something to work your way up to. Just read the article!

I'm not usually big on USA Today, but here's an excellent article looking forward to Pope John Paul II's upcoming 83rd birthday: Pope John Paul II at 83: 'Ministry of presence' . Of course no news story is complete without the obligatory Stupid Comment from a dissenter, in this case Fr. Richard McBrien:

"You still have to raise the question, not cynically: Would any major global corporation think him fit to be its CEO? The problem with his continuing in office beyond his capacity to function with full powers is the assumption this conveys that this particular pope is indispensable," McBrien says. "You may like all his decisions and think he's the greatest pope in history, but is he indispensable? You can't answer that 'yes' and be consistent with Catholic teaching."

Of course it's true that no particular pope is indispensable, not even one who will eventually be known as John Paul the Great. Still one has to wonder if Fr. McBrien really doesn't understand the difference between the Pope and a CEO, or if he's just jealous. I'm not sure which is worse.

If this doesn't make you say "Awwww, how sweet!" then you have NO heart! Carol Channing weds childhood sweetheart.

ARRRGGGGHHHH! I'm having equipment problems today. First -- I have an RCA TV and VCR. I use the VCR remote for both TV and VCR since the TV remote quit working a while back and the VCR remote does everything you'd want anyway. Well, today the VCR remote quit working with the TV, mostly. It will turn the TV on, but that's it -- can't change channels, etc. Very, very annoying! I don't think it's the remote since it seems to still work just fine with the VCR. Hmm.

Second, I bought a printer yesterday at a yard sale -- a Compaq (Lexmark) IJ600. It seems to be in good condition but Windows 2000 is not happy with it, at least in USB mode. Everytime I power it on it tries to reinstall the drivers, and the control software claims it can't talk to the printer. Grrr.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Update: I actually read the directions (gasp!) and re-programmed the VCR remote with the correct code for the TV, and now it works fine! Yay!

Music for Mass
SSPP Latin Schola
4th Sunday of Easter

Gathering Song: All People That on Earth Do Dwell (OLD HUNDREDTH)
Penitential Rite: Kyrie (Chant Mass)
Gloria: (Chant Mass)
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 118 (Dominican tone 3)
Gospel Acclamation: (OCP Respond & Acclaim)
Preparation of the Gifts: Locus Iste (Bruckner)
O Filii et Filiae (Pius X #231)
Holy,Holy: Sanctus (Chant Mass)
Memorial Acclamation: (Chant Mass)
Great Amen: (Chant Mass)
Our Father: (Traditional Chant)
Lamb of God: Agnus Dei (Chant Mass)
Communion: The King of Love My Shepherd Is (ST. COLUMBA)
Alma Redemptoris Mater (Palestrina)
Recessional: Jesus Is Risen (LASST UNS ERFREUEN)
Postlude: Ave Maria (Victoria)

This is our last Mass for the Schola until Assumption.

Happy Mother's Day

Congratulations and God bless to all mothers out there. For those of you whose mothers are living, I hope you spent some time with them, or at least called them! If not, shame on you. My mother has been gone for almost 19 years. I miss her a lot sometimes. Here's to you, Mom.

Okay, I've been sucked into the friday five:

1. Would you consider yourself an organized person? Why or why not?

I consider myself an organized person. Anyone who's seen my house lately would disagree, though. Perhaps it's just a strong dose of OCD that makes me think I'm organized.

2. Do you keep some type of planner, organizer, calendar, etc. with you, and do you use it regularly?

I have several calendars. Really, the two master calendars are my parish calendar on the wall in my laundry room, and my online Yahoo! calendar. I really keep most stuff in my head, though.

3. Would you say that your desk is organized right now?

Bwahahahaha! "no"

4. Do you alphabetize CDs, books, and DVDs, or does it not matter?

I used to. I usually organize CDs alphabetically by genre. Strangely enough my DVDs and videos are not organized particularly. My books are usually alphabetical by author (fiction) or grouped by genre.

5. What's the hardest thing you've ever had to organize?

Hm. Perhaps my graduation celebration when I got my MSEE? Or various moves? Certainly at work there have been any number of difficult things to organize -- for example the LANtastic Power Suite shipment for French, Italian, German, Spanish and Dutch. Whew, that was a nightmare.

Way cool stuff -- check out the latest work from the Hubble Space Telescope: The Deepest Photo Ever Taken.

Good news for the Diocese of Tucson! Plans for the new San Miguel Catholic High School are coming along. This school will serve mostly underprivileged kids on the south side of Tucson in a work/school setup -- Kids will work to help pay tuition at new Catholic school.

Arizona has been in a bad drought for several years, but the Arizona Daily Star says things are improving : Storms helped state, but it's still too dry.

If you haven't checked out the Where is Raed ? blog, you really should. An on-the-ground Iraqi account of the war from one civilian's perspective.

Another Piestewa story -- First lady meets with family of fallen soldier. It's a nice gesture. It's too bad Mrs. Bush couldn't have gone to the Hopi Reservation to meet them, though.

I stayed home Thursday; woke up and felt very achy and woozy, so I called in sick and slept 'til 2:30. Wow. I feel much better today.

More fun at the dentist -- they're very pleased with my progress. Between the therapy they've given me and my home therapy I am making progress. I've had 3 treatments so far at one week intervals. They've given me more stuff to do at home, including some super-duper fluoride toothpaste I'm supposed to use to help with some de-calcified areas on a couple of my teeth, and some other stuff as well. I go back at the end of the month for my last treatment.

I survived! I know, that sounds so dramatic. I had my first ice skating lesson tonight at 7. It went very well. In many ways it seemed reminiscent of my first rollerblading lesson, except ice is much more slippery! I was very lucky in that I was the only person signed up for the adult class, so I got my instructor's undivided attention for 30 minutes. We just worked on walking on the ice and some very brief two-foot glides and a shallow dip. We also practiced falling, which helped me get over my fear a bit. After the lesson I practiced what I'd learned for about 15 minutes just to try to embed it in my psyche. Incidentally, the Recreational Figure Skating FAQ has lots of good info!

I was a bit tired, which surprised me. Clearly I need to get out and do more stuff to build strength and stamina. The obvious thing would be to rollerblade more often because it's a lot of the same muscles, plus it's the other thing I like to do :-). I'll try to go tomorrow.

Forbes has an article about the new Ave Maria Mutual Funds -- U.S. Catholic mutual fund group launches new funds. Socially conscious is good. Even better if the fund managers are smart and know what they are doing, which I have no way to evaluate.

In proofreading the program for the Living Stones graduation Mass, the person who put it together lists our Bishop as "Presider and Homilist" and our Bishop-emeritus as "Concelebrant." Besides being poor English usage (the terms don't match) I objected (as always) to the use of the term "presider." The priest at Mass is not a "presider", he celebrates. Fortunately, I'm backed up by the new GIRM, which nowhere uses the term "presider" but uses the term "celebrant" frequently.

My friend Lou's father passed away suddenly, early this morning. Please pray for the repose of his soul, and for Lou and his family. Thanks.

Here's a cool article on composer/conductor John Williams -- The music man for Jedis and Joneses. Some have been critical of his film scores, saying that they all sound alike. I disagree -- there are certainly some similarities but that is more due to the genre of films he's scored. He has won 5 (count 'em, 5) Oscars and been nominated for 24(!).

Collegium Musicum Concert
John T. Brobeck, Director
Wayne Glass, Assistant Director

May 4, 2003
2:30 p.m.
Holsclaw Hall, University of Arizona(tm)

Program

O! flamma divini amoris Ecce homo

Guillaume Bouzignac (c1592-c1641) G. Bouzignac

Matthew Johnson, baritone

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La Reniement de St. Pierre	Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704)
Peter: Dennis Tamblyn      Jesus: Christopher Jackson      Historicus: Casey Papovich	Ostiaria: Maureen Papovich Ancilla: Erin Hagedon Cognatus Malchi: Tom Tompkins

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Sonetta proemio dell-opera

Barbara Strozzi (1619-c1664)

Molly Holleran, Maureen Papovich, sopranos

Chiome d'oro

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)

Wayne Glass, Greg Lenaburg, tenors


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Jephte	Giacomo Carissimi (1605-1674)
Filia: Erin Hagedon      Jephte: Wayne Glass      Historicus: Dennis Tamblyn	Soloists: Molly Holeran, soprano                Maureen Papovich, soprano                Matthew Johnson, baritone

Wow, today has been busy. I had rehearsal from 9-11 for our Collegium Musicum concert tomorrow, then from 11-1 rehearsal for the SSPP Schola (we're singing at 11 a.m. Mass 5/11), then from 1-3 rehearsal with the volunteer choir for our Living Stones graduation Mass (which is 6/1). 6 hours of singing is just too much. Finally got some lunch after that, then did stuff around the house. This evening I went to a group dinner with the Faculty Singles group from UA. Chinese food! It was yummy.

Last night I went to see "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at The University of Arizona(tm) Theater Arts. Wow! What a terrific production! I was interested to note that the lighting designer was a woman I went to school with as an undergrad at UA, Tracy Odishaw. She did a really nice job. The show was in the Lab Theater and was done in the round. It's always more fun that way, but also a challenge for the designer. It was a very enjoyable production.

More on Pfc. Lori Piestawa -- Piestewa fought to save others, Renzi says. One of the freeways in Phoenix is being renamed for her also.

I went rollerblading tonight, for the first time in ... quite a while. I really need to go more often; it takes me about 20 minutes or so to get back to where I was before. Well, almost back, I still need to work on my braking. I don't go particularly fast and while I don't generally fall I'm still not exactly an inspiration to watch :-). Still, it is a lot of fun. I'm hoping to go more regularly during the summer. I need the exercise!