Happy Birthday Jeanetta!

Yep, our favorite Domestic Punk is 22 today! Go hit up her blog and wish her the sentiments of the day!

I asked J what she wants for her birthday and she responded:

For my birthday, I want you to offer a few extra prayers for women who are feeling pressured into having an abortion and their unborn children. :-)

So, you got it J -- one rosary for your intention. It's a good one.

This is definitely NOT from the lovely Jeanetta -- the Pimp Name Generator. Apparently my Pimp Name is

Silver Tongue Zaft Clinton

Oooooooookay.

Thanks to the lovely Jeanetta for the latest amusement:

My very British name is Dominic Watson.
Take The Very British Name Generator today!
Created with Rum and Monkey's Name Generator Generator.

I seem to be popular with the pollsters. For the second time now I've gotten pollsters calling me asking me my opinions about local radio stations and the music they play. They play a number of song clips at you (I think there were 25!) and ask you for your opinion -- never heard it, never liked it, tired of it, like it, it's a favorite, no opinion. It's kind of fun actually.

The last couple of days at work we've been trading haikus. I've written a couple (they are very work-specific so I won't share them here) and my boss (Andrey) replied with one of his own:

Brutal Q A man
Development team concerned
A weekend coming.

Whoa! My friend Amber Lee's friend Debbie had a nice writeup about her singing etc. in the Arizona Daily Wildcat. Way to go Debbie! You can also check out Debbie's website.

A few times recently people have asked me about the book, The DaVinci Code. I've not read it, but apparently it is quite critical of the Church and specifically Opus Dei. The Prelature has put up a response to the book.

We also want to point out that The Da Vinci Code’s bizarre depiction of Opus Dei is inaccurate, both in the overall impression and in many details, and it would be irresponsible to form any opinion of Opus Dei based on reading The Da Vinci Code.

Bishop Olmsted from Phoenix writes about Catholic Buts. I'm really glad he wrote the column, it seems this attitude is very common in our society today, unfortunately.

Music for Mass
SSPP Latin Schola
Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year C (RCIA Readings from Cycle A)

Prelude: Adoramus Te Christe (Pius X Hymnal #217)
Gathering Song: Parce Domine
Penitential Rite: Kyrie (Chant Mass)
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 23 (Dominican tones)
Gospel Acclamation: (Chant Mass w/verse of the day)
Preparation of the Gifts: Crux Fidelis (Pius X Hymnal #225)
Attende Domine (Pius X Hymnal #202)
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: Amazing Grace
Meditation: O Bone Jesu (Palestrina)
Recessional: From All That Dwell Below the Skies (DUKE STREET)
Postlude: The King of Love My Shepherd Is (ST. COLUMBA)

Woo! More rumors of In-N-Out Burger coming to Tucson... from today's Star:

In-N-Out burgers might be moving in (or not)

OK, calm down now. It may not be for a while yet - a long while.

Sure, there's a sign that says In-N-Out burgers are coming soon posted on the official Arizona Pavillions sign near Wal-Mart and Kohl's, off Interstate 10 and Cortaro Road in Marana. It looks as though ground has been broken, too.

But a spokesman for the Irvine, Calif.-based In-N-Out, says it's "premature to talk about an In-N-Out in Tucson this year."

Yes, he knows about that sign. But he doesn't know how it got there. He'll be looking into that, and chances are that sign will be coming down.

"There will be nothing in Tucson this year," he said. "Maybe in 2005, but it'll be late 2005."

So, we can all salivate thinking about the juicy burgers being in our back yard, but we'll have to keep it up for almost two years more, if the spokesman is to be believed.

But hey, it could happen. We got Krispy Kreme, didn't we?

Happy feast of St. Joseph! A big topic of discussion today on some of the Catholic email lists is whether we are dispensed from abstinence today since the solemnity falls on a Friday. I asked my pastor (who is a canon lawyer) and he said:

You would not believe the ink that has been spent on this on the canonical hot line on this issue over the last five days. The answer appears no, except if the bp has excused or you live in a country where Joseph is the patron saint.

Fortunately I had not planned on steak for dinner.

Robert Cringely's column this week talks about the NMCI (Nayv-Marine Corps Intranet) and what a fiasco it is. I believe it. When I was visiting some of my old buddies/ex-coworkers who work for the Navy they spent some time complaining about NMCI. These guys do software maintenance and development, and for them NMCI has been a royal pain -- they have to have an NMCI machine on their desk and then another machine with which to do development. Another idea which sounded great to the bean counters and doesn't work well in practice. It's too bad.

President Bush gave a speech about the Iraq war, which started one year ago today (transcript here). Unfortunately I expect most people will never read or hear the whole thing.

There is no neutral ground -- no neutral ground -- in the fight between civilization and terror, because there is no neutral ground between good and evil, freedom and slavery, and life and death.

Dang! The Arizona Wildcats basketball team fell to Seton Hall in the first round of the NCAA tournament, 80-76. *sigh*

This is cool -- the Diocese of Phoenix will be allowing the Tridentine Mass at some Phoenix churches. The new bishop is making some positive changes already! Bishop O'Brien had refused to allow Mass in Latin in the diocese.

I get a lot of spam because my email address is posted on the net in various places (for example, on this blog!). One of my favorite spam subject lines ever came earlier this week:

Discover illegible singles in your area tonight!

Hmm. CNN reports Utah is eliminating the option of death by firing squad from its capital punishment. The article claims that the option was a relic of Utah's territorial days. That does not jibe with my understanding -- from what I've read, the firing squad option was available so that Mormons sentenced to death would be able to make a blood atonement for their sins. I'd appreciate enlightenment or correction on the issue.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A very cool review of the complete Lord of the Rings cinema trilogy from a Catholic perspective. Check it out, and while you're at it you might want to visit the author's Decent Films website.

A milestone -- last night (March 13th), at about 8:12 p.m. MST, my car's odometer turned over to 100,000 miles while I was near the intersection of 5th St. and Country Club.

A very apt Lenten quote from Catholic Light:

You only love Jesus as much as you love the person you hate the most.

CNN is reporting that hundreds are dead and thousands wounded in a terror bombing in Madrid. Some claimed it was Basque separatists but it sure looks a lot like Al Queda -- multiple bombs in a coordinated attack.

I'm in an email discussion about the Eucharistic fast, and fasting in general. Someone brought up a helpful article on the EWTN website, Eucharistic Fasting: Preparation and Penance. It's very helpful.

A nice article in the Arizona Daily Star on quinceañeras. I agree with the article; I think they are a fine custom that has gotten too materialistic and commercialized.

Fr. Greeley writes that Celibacy, homosexuality are Catholic shibboleths. I think he's mostly right about this -- the real scandal is not so much the behavior of the priests, who were clearly sick; it's the bishops. Greeley claims that according to his research, 16% of priests are gay and 60% of them have lived celibate lives, vs. 80% of heterosexual priests.

Last week was cold and rainy. The weekend was absolutely beautiful, with snow on the mountains and temps in the high 60s or low 70s. Now the tables have turned, and today we had a high of 87! Oh well.

It's been a long weekend. Saturday I spent much of the day at the rink watching the Tucson Invitational skating competition. Sunday I was at the rink a bit, but also went to my sister's to see how she's doing (she's doing much better but, being a Zaft, doesn't like to sit at home when she'd rather be doing stuff). I also got to go watch the UA Wildcat basketball team beat ASU 106 - 81 (Yay!). All in all quite a busy time...

It's definitely a weird day when my buddy ElfGirl links to an Ann Coulter article on The Passion. I have to say that I agree with much of what Coulter writes in this case as well.

Here's my Friday Five:

What was...

1. ...your first grade teacher's name?

I do NOT remember that.

2. ...your favorite Saturday morning cartoon?

The Bugs Bunny - RoadRunner Hour, closely followed by Jonny Quest.

3. ...the name of your very first best friend?

Wow, I totally do not remember. How sad is that?

4. ...your favorite breakfast cereal?

We never got horribly fancy stuff. I really liked Captain Crunch, as well as Froot Loops and Trix. Most of the time I was forced to eat far healthier stuff though.

5. ...your favorite thing to do after school?

Read!

I got to teach my 4th RCIA class for the year, on conscience and morality. After discussing the nature of knowledge, objective reality vs. subjectivism, relativism, and how we gain knowledge (personal experience, authority, and reason). From there we talked about the role of conscience and how we must inform our consciences and obey our conscience. Finally we talked about some general moral principles and examined a moral dilemma and how we can reason about moral dilemmas. It was a good class.

I hear a lot of interesting music, both because I have a variety of friends and also because I'm exposed to new stuff at the ice rink. For example, I got turned on to Evanescence by my friend Amber Lee. And at the rink lately I've been hearing a cool song by Bowling For Soup :

Punk Rock 101

She works at Hot Topic
His heart microscopic
She thinks that it's love but to him it's sex
He listens to emo but fat mike's his hero
His bank account's zero
What comes next?

Same song different chorus

[Chorus:]
It's stupid, contagious
To be broke and famous
Can someone please save us from punk rock 101
My Dickies, your sweat bands
My spiked hair, your new Vans
Let's throw up our rock hands for punk rock 101

She bought him a skateboard, a rail slide, his knee tore
He traded it for drums at the local pawn shop
She left him for staring at girls and not caring
When she cried because she thought Bon Jovi broke up

Same song second chorus

[Chorus]

Don't forget to dely...on the very last word

Seven years later he works as a waiter
She married a trucker and he's never there
The story never changes, just the names and faces
Like Tommy and Gina they're living on a prayer

Did you just say that?
I said

[Chorus x2]

It's stupid, contagious (same song different chorus)
To be broke and famous (same song different chorus)
Can someone please save us from punk rock 101
My Dickies, your rock hands
My spiked hair, your new Vans
Let's shoplift some sweatbands for punk rock 101

One of the things I love about my music fraternity, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, is the quality of the members. They are men of the highest caliber. The latest example is one of the national leaders, who found out a few years ago that one of our early presidents, a man whose memory is esteemed by the brothers of Phi Mu Alpha, was buried in an unmarked grave. So what did he do? He went out and contacted the family and others, got permission, and spent $1500 of his own money to have a suitable marker installed. Now that the marker is ready to be placed (once the snow thaws in Massachusetts) he is asking for donations to help cover the cost -- but he did "first things first."

This is a bad decision -- apparently the California Supreme Court has decided that the right of Catholics to act in accord with their consciences ends if they are employers. I wonder what Catholic Charities will do now? Probably drop their prescription drug coverage entirely.

This is very cool -- we were told at Collegium rehearsal tonight that our choir will be performing Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the Arizona Choir next spring! Arizona Choir is the top choir at The University of Arizona® so it's a big deal to sing with them.