As expected the UA has hired Mike Stoops as the new head football coach. Stoops will have quite a rebuilding job to do. Star columnist Greg Hansen is pleased with the selection.

My belated Friday Five:

1. Do you like to shop? Why or why not?

Sometimes. It depends on what I'm shopping for. I like shopping when I'm just looking for things. I dislike it either when I'm looking for a specific thing that I can't find anywhere, or when I'll "know it when I see it" and have no idea where to look.

2. What was the last thing you purchased?

Other than lunch? :-) Um, a Type 5 keyboard and mouse for my Sparcstation 20, off of eBay.

3. Do you prefer shopping online or at an actual store? Why?

I prefer shopping online for books, music, DVDs, and computer gear. Everything else I'd rather buy where I can see it, especially clothes and furniture.

4. Did you get an allowance as a child? How much was it?

Other than a brief period of time where my Dad was sending an allowance (I think it was when I was 8 or 9), no. I think it was 50 cents a week, but it might have been a dollar.

5. What was the last thing you regret purchasing?

Hmm. I bought a pair of exercise pants at Factory 2 You a couple of months ago, and they were too large but not returnable. That's about it.

The Massachusetts bishops are (finally) speaking out about gay marriage. I suspect this is too little too late.

*sigh* The UA Wildcats lost to the ASU Sun Devils today, 28-7. It was not a pleasant game to watch. It started out badly and didn't get much better. I was proud of the team, though -- they didn't give up and they kept on fighting. They did their best.

Music for Mass
Gordon Zaft, cantor, Kathie O'Sullivan, piano
Thanksgiving Day Mass, Cycle B

Gathering Song: Thanks Be To God (Dean)
Penitential Rite: recited
Gloria: recited
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 113 (Respond & Acclaim)
Gospel Acclamation: Praise His Name (Joncas) w/verse of the day
Preparation of the Gifts: For The Fruits of This Creation (AR HYD Y NOS)
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: All Good Gifts (Keil)
Recessional: America, the Beautiful (MATERNA)

Happy Thanksgiving

President Bush celebrated Thanksgiving by making a surprise visit to Baghdad. It's a nice touch, and I am sure the troops really appreciated it. I think most people would agree that he has made a good Commander-in-Chief regardless of what they think of him otherwise.

Best wishes to you, reader, for a happy Thanksgiving celebration. I hope you can gather with family and friends to celebrate. If you can't, if you are alone, remember -- you are here to read this, here to celebrate. For that at least you can be thankful. Thanks be to God!

I'm heading out in a few minutes to go to Phoenix to have Thanksgiving dinner with my family. I'll post the Thanksgiving Day Mass music in a minute and then be out.

This Sunday is Terri Schindler Schiavo Day. Please pray for Terri and for protection for all life, and pass it on!

The Star reported on Sunday that Tucson's Bishop Kicanas may well be moving up in the hierarchy. That doesn't surprise me; from the time of his appointment I thought it unlikely that an auxiliary from Chicago would finish out his days in our diocese. That said, Kicanas has proved to be a lot of what this diocese has needed -- he is a good communicator and listens, and I get the distinct impression he's using the promulgation of the new GIRM to clean up some of the problem parishes in the diocese. I hope so.

Meanwhile it's being reported that Bishop Olmsted of Wichita has been appointed the new Bishop of Phoenix.

*bleah* Saturday night/Sunday morning I went to bed around 1:30 a.m., and wound up sleeping until 3 p.m. -- I was exhausted. I thought, okay, so I'll be fine now. Went to bed Sunday night around midnight and woke up exhausted again, called in to work sick and went back to bed and slept 'til 1 p.m. Tonight I got up and went to choir rehearsal, and now I'm feeling... bad. My glands are swollen and I'm feeling kind of achy. This doesn't bode well.

I was cleaning up a little bit tonight and came across an old tape of the 200th epsiode of "Beverly Hills 90210" from 1997. I loved that show! I know many people thought of it as pure trash, but there were some story lines in it that really resonated with me. In the 200th episode there's this great story line about the engagement ring that Brandon had bought Kelly when he proposed to her. She turned him down, but he had kept the ring. His new girlfriend Tracey found it and of course they argued about it, so he goes to return it. He can't bring himself to when he gets to the shop, but later after talking with Kelly he goes ahead and returns it. Kelly goes and buys the ring because, as she says, she didn't want anyone else to have it.

I love this kind of stuff. It's so romantic. I am a romantic through and through and this sort of thing just kills me. Sometimes you have to go through a lot of heartache before you realize just how much you really love someone, and sometimes you have to let them go even though it breaks your heart. That's romance and true love.

Today was the 40th anniversary of the death of the first (and so far, only) Catholic president of the US, John F. Kennedy. Since I was only 10 weeks old when he died I obviously have no memories of the day... but I grieve the loss anyway. Rest in peace, JFK.

It goes on... new "credible" allegations from the 60s and 70s of a priest and a nun (!) of the Diocese of Tucson accused of sexual abuse/molestation.

Here's my Friday Five:

1. List five things you'd like to accomplish by the end of the year.

1. Clean up the house and get rid of stuff
   
2. Lose 5 more lbs.
   
3. Pick a coach for skating lessons
   
4. Get all my Christmas cards sent early
   
5. Get my Christmas shopping done early
   

2. List five people you've lost contact with that you'd like to hear from again.

1. College buddy Marc Allen
   
2. My friend Chelsea Tor
   
3. High school buddy Stephen Michael
   
4. Kirsten Hall Bellars
   
5. Ex-gf Therese Aguayo
   

3. List five things you'd like to learn how to do.

1. Speak Spanish
   
2. Play piano (for real, not the plinking I can do now)
   
3. Ballroom dancing (including swing),
   
4. Read/understand Latin
   
5. Land an Axel (of course)
   

4. List five things you'd do if you won the lottery (no limit).

1. Get a huge house with my own ice rink, and skate every day
   
2. Go back to school and get a Ph.D. in history or philosophy
   
3. Endow a charitable foundation
   
4. Travel
   
5. Buy a Steinway
   

5. List five things you do that help you relax.

1. Figure skating
   
2. Listening to music
   
3. Reading
   
4. Surfing the web
   
5. Walking
   

Pushing the envelope once again, the Wildcat interviews someone while on the pot. Geez, give 'em a break!

Tonight my friend Tom took me to watch the Wildcat basketball team play Team Nike in an exhibition game. It was a lot of fun! We won 116-91. One of the nice things about basketball (compared to football) is that the games are so much shorter and, being indoors, more comfortable. I still prefer watching Wildcat football, though :-).

Chess champion Garry Kasparov played to a draw against the X3D computer program. While this stuff is mostly for show, I was struck by the unfair nature of this latest competition -- the X3D has 4 processors, Kasparov has only one. It should be one-to-one! Either X3D should play a group of 4 masters, or it should only use one CPU.

The Arizona Daily Wildcat is reporting that the first mirror of the Large Binocular Telescope has been moved to Mt. Graham. Very exciting stuff! The LBT will use adaptive optics to compensate for the Earth's atmosphere.

Ever helpful, Blogger is telling us How Not to Get Fired Because of Your Blog.

The Lady of Shalott has resurrected her blog, All But Dissertation. Check it out... welcome back!

The US Bishops have published their statement on homosexual unions.

(Thanks to the lovely Jeanetta for the link)

Music for Mass
SSPP Latin Schola
Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Prelude: Sicut Cervus (Palestrina)
Gathering Song: Come, Worship the Lord (Talbot)
Penitential Rite: Kyrie (Chant Mass)
Gloria: (Chant Mass)
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 16 (Domincan tones)
Gospel Acclamation: (Chant Mass w/verse of the day)
Preparation of the Gifts: Be Thou My Vision (Pius X Hymnal #15)
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: Ave Verum Corpus (Byrd)
Meditation: Ubi Caritas (Pius X Hymnal #16)
Recessional: Now Thank We All Our God (NUN DANKET)

In retrospect it would have been quite apropos to do the Bruckner Os Justi. Maybe next year.

Saturday evening I went to watch the Arizona Wildcats play the USC Trojans. Unfortunately for us, #2 ranked USC destroyed the Wildcats. The 45-0 shutout was not pretty; in fact it was the first shutout for the Wildcats in 12 years. *sigh* Of course, the reality of UA football is that if they can somehow pull off a win against ASU, all will be forgiven.

Star columnist Greg Hansen says that USC just plain had superior players. In the past that didn't always mean they would win, though, but this year it was just too much.

Friday night I went to the Arizona Opera production of Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado. It was a really fun production, and the Arizona Daily Star thinks so too. Yes, it's a little unusual for a full-fledged opera company to do G&S, but it was a really well-done production.

This is really cool. I've often thought that abortion only continues in the US because we Christians (and others of good will) aren't actively opposing it. Well, some folks in the construction industry have put their money where their mouths are and organized an abortion clinic construction boycott. Way to go!

Today's Friday Five:

1. Using one adjective, describe your current living space.

Cluttered!

2. Using two adjectives, describe your current employer.

interesting and challenging

3. Using three adjectives, describe your favorite hobby/pasttime.

thrilling, exciting, fascinating

4. Using four adjectives, describe your typical day.

hectic, busy, tiring, long

5. Using five adjectives, describe your ideal life.

Active, stimulating, musical, spiritual, full

Those of you who are propeller-heads might appreciate this Seuss parody -- The Grinch Who Stole Linux.

Ah, just the antidote I needed for my mood -- read Fr. Johansen's account of the Generosity of St. Blog's. Way to go, St. Bloggers!

So of course, having just written the preceding self-pitying entry, I come across this post on the Onion: "Mom Finds Out About Blog". Fortunately or not my family already knows about this blog...

I'm having a bad day... I had a date planned for tomorrow night but it was canceled via email because the person in question didn't want to be on a "date" with me. So I've been hit where I so often am, in the "you're such a nice person, you'd be perfect for my best friend /cousin /roommate /coworker /manicurist /veterinarian /anyone but me". I swear, if someone calls me "nice" again I will just lay them out. Okay, probably not, but can someone explain why a woman would give me her phone number and then either not want to go out, or agree to go out and then change her mind at the last minute? It's happened to me twice in the space of a month, and it's really dragging my self-esteem through the gutter. Am I really that undesirable? It's hard to avoid that conclusion.

Yes, I'm venting, yes, I'm upset, no, I wouldn't really lay anyone out. Thanks for reading/listening.

Happy Veteran's Day. I hope you can take a moment today (if you are an American) to give thanks to the veterans who sacrificed for our freedom. From Valley Forge to Fallujah, across hundreds of years and thousands of miles, brave men and women have answered their country's call and served. As they say -- some gave all, and all gave some. Thank you, veterans.

I was dogsitting for my sister, one of the 3 remaining Americans without a home computer and Internet access :-) so no posts over the weekend.

The Wildcats came out with a 27-22 win against the Washington Huskies! This from a team that has only won a single game previously this season (against UTEP), and had not won a PAC-10 home game since... 2001, I think. It was really a terrific game. Mike Bell had a terrific game, 222 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns. Defensive rover Clay Hardt also played the game of his life; he was all over! As the Star notes, there were a lot of good signs in this game. Of course, next week the Wildcats play #2 USC. It should be a good game.

It's Homecoming at my beloved alma mater, The University of Arizona®, and my favorite part is the 10th Annual Student Showcase. I worked on Student Showcase when I was a member of the Graduate and Professional Student Council, the graduate student goverment. I competed in Showcase in 2001 with my thesis research and received a second place prize. Student Showcase is a research exhibition where the public at large can see how students are translating their learning into new knowledge. It's really fascinating and well worth the time to see.

President Bush, true to his word, has signed the partial-birth abortion ban. The pro-abortion lobby will sue, of course. What they don't seem to have figured out is that every time the press actually describes this procedure in any detail at all the ban gains support. Imagine that, people are actually disgusted and horrified at the idea of sticking a sharp instrument in a fetus's head and sucking his/her brains out to collapse his/her head and kill him/her.

The outcome of yesterday's election seems to be that we retain the status quo. The mayoral race was quite close (less that 1300 votes between winner and loser) and not quite all the votes are counted so there's a small possibility it will change, but I doubt it. So discounting that, we have exactly the same city council we had before, and all the propositions were defeated. I wish I knew what Tucsonans want to do about transportation, but all we know for certain is that they don't want increased bus service and light rail.

Today is election day. In Tucson, we are deciding the mayoral race as well as 3 (of 6) city council seats (one seat is unopposed, however). We also had the two transportation propositions (200, 201) and a pay raise for the mayor and council (100).

The mayor's race is going to be close, and one of the council races also. I'm sure the pay raise will be voted down, although I supported it - - councilmembers only get $24,000 a year, and well, you get what you pay for. I really have no idea whether the transportation initiatives will pass or not. They would raise the city sales tax by .3 cents and add a construction sales tax to pay for improvements in bus service and street maintenance, as well as to construct a 13-mile light rail line.

As usual, David Morrison gets it right about the new Episcopalian bishop. Check it out, and bookmark his blog.

Something you are not likely to see given attention in the media -- another death due to RU-486.

It's happened -- the Episcopalians have made a practicing homosexual a bishop. I knew they were going off the deep end but it's pretty clear that this is non-recoverable. I don't see how the Church can continue an ecumenical effort with the Episcopalians now when they can deny something so obvious and basic.

Another black eye for the Diocese of Tucson -- a priest has admitted he fathered a child.

I went to see SeaBiscuit tonight. While it was not a perfect movie (and I've heard there were some major liberties taken with the story) it was a good movie and I enjoyed it thoroughly. While I'm not a real horse person (my experience is that there are horse people and then there's everyone else), I do love and appreciate them. I really liked the movie a lot. Good stuff.