Friday, July 29, 2005

This is pretty cool -- scientists have found another large planet-like object orbiting the Sun.
Greg's funeral was Wednesday evening up in Tempe, at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. That's the same church where I made my first Communion back in 1969, and also were Greg and Terri were married and where the girls made their first Communion as well; and Chelsea and Geoff were baptized there. So it was a familiar setting. There was a pretty big crowd there. The Schola from SSPP sang, and they were wonderful. I'll try to post the music in a bit.

Thursday morning Greg's ashes were interred with my mother, at Evergreen Cemetery here in Tucson. There was a short service with Fr. Wagner from my parish. It was nice. My Dad read this piece written by one of Greg's friends:


HARD WORKING HANDS AND A HEART OF GOLD,
A SMIRK AND A CHUCKLE THROUGH STORIES HE TOLD.
WHETHER RUNNING WITH BULLS OR RIDIN' A HOG,
HAVING TEA IN TURKEY OR LUNCH IN PRAGUE,
AMSTERDAM NIGHTS OR A SUNNY BEACH DAY,
WHAT A JOURNEY OF LIFE HE WOULD CONVEY.
HOW EARLY IT SEEMS HE WAS TAKEN AWAY
BUT OH HOW MUCH HE ENJOYED HIS SHORT STAY.

MAY WE ALL LEARN FROM HIS LESSON ON LIFE,
BRIEF IS OUR TIME, LONG IS OUR STRIFE.
BREATHE IN MUCH JOY, WHILE YOU HAVE THE CHANCE,
WORK WHEN IT’S TIME, BUT TAKE TIME TO DANCE.
HE HAD HONESTY IN HIS WORDS AND A FIRM HANDSHAKE,
HE WOULD LOOK YOU IN THE EYE AND HIS WORD NOT BREAK.
YOU COULD SEE THE LOVE FOR LIFE IN HIS BLUE EYES SO DEEP,
YOU CAN HEAR HOW WE MISS HIM THROUGH THE TEARS THAT WE WEEP.
WE NEED MORE MEN LIKE HIM, TO MAKE THIS WORLD A BRIGHTER PLACE
I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER MY FRIEND GREG WITH A SMILE ON HIS FACE.

MAY PEACE BE FOREVER WITH HIM,
ALWAYS HIS FRIEND.
Truman Wood (Tempe, AZ )

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

As you might expect, I've been frightfully busy and not in the mood to post. Greg's funeral is tomorrow and we've all had various chores to do to get ready to celebrate his life and mourn his passing.

My particular chores were to arrange for the graveside service, and to arrange for music for the funeral. My nieces and nephew had picked out some songs, and I picked out the rest to complete the service. The Schola from my parish volunteered to drive up to Tempe to sing for the funeral. Wow... let me tell you, that is friendship. All my friends have been so supportive, and my parish has been great. Fr. Van from SSPP has been very helpful and accommodating, all those things that you need at a time like this. The folks at work have been great, and I'm going to be off work Wed. and Thursday for the funeral and graveside service. And of course, Marie has been so kind and supportive.

Greg's obituary is online with a guestbook. Feel free to sign, and thanks for all your prayers and support.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Grief


I had a call from my Dad last night just after 8 p.m., informing me that my oldest brother Greg passed away yesterday. Needless to say, this is quite a shock. He was only 48!

Prayers for him and for our family would be appreciated.

Saturday, July 16, 2005

I thought I'd share some of the minutia of my life...

I'm in cleaning up and throwing out mode a lot these days... right now the big target is old software. I have a lot of really old software that I paid good money for at the time... dBase IV version 1.5, Paradox 7, Paradox for Windows NT, PC Tools (several versions), original copies of DOS and Windows, Microsoft Project, the list goes on and on. I'd give them away if anyone wanted 'em. I'm sure there's little to no market for this stuff anymore, and as far as I can tell I can't even recycle the manuals (according to the handout I have you can't recycle this stuff). So, out it goes. It's a little sad, but very freeing as well. I should have thrown this stuff out a long time ago!

I went to a birthday party tonight for my friend Laura. It was really cool. A small crowd but lots of fun.

It's been incredibly hot. This seems to be turning into one of Tucson's hottest, if not THE hottest, summers. We're at 32 or so consecutive days over 100 degrees, and it shows every sign of breaking the record (39 days). *sigh*

I finally fixed my lawnmower today. The fix, as usual, is replacing the spark plug. Since I don't have a shed to store my lawnmower in, I basically wind up replacing the spark plug every year. This time I bought two so I can just replace it next year without having to run any errands. Yea! Having fixed it, I went on to mow the front lawn. I'll mow the back tomorrow.

Thursday, July 14, 2005

There's a guest editorial in today's Star from Bishop Kicanas. As the bankruptcy case is now concluded, it does seem appropriate.
As bishop of Tucson, I again make this public apology. I express the firm resolve that this diocese will do whatever is humanly possible to reduce the risk that a child could be abused at a parish or school, at home and even in the larger community.
Let it be so.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

The Arizona Daily Star reports that the Diocese of Tucson's bankruptcy plan has been approved. The case was resolved remarkably amicably and quickly. I think that's good; now the victims can get on with their lives and the Diocese can work on recovering.

Monday, July 11, 2005

I had always heard of the "blame the victim" mentality, but never have I seen it so strikingly displayed as in this post:

If you are American then please either let us get on and deal with
stuff and leave us alone. If you do want to communicate with us then
please write something along the following lines:

"I'm so, so sorry. Our country has caused yours dreadful harm. Please
accept my sincere apologies and please know that the policies pursued
by our deluded government are not supported by myself and many of my
compatriots. Indeed we despise our politicians as much as you do and
can only regret that their perverse actions have resulted in such
terrible anguish for yourselves and the inhabitants of so many other
countries."

[snip]

DON'T YOU GET IT?? IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!! Your horrible closeness to us
is what brought us this problem. I don't want you close to us. I want
you far, far away. I use those very trains, stations and buses which
were ripped apart today. I work at the hospital which took those
casualties. Even last night, before this happened, I wrote a vitriolic
email to another American trying to get me complicit in some other
nefarious activity. I won't go to America, I don't like America and I'm
getting pretty damn close to hating Americans. Actually, I want you
people to get that we hate you. Maybe not all of us, maybe not hate.
But we loathe and despise you and your society and we don't want your
sympathy - we want your contrition, your self-doubt and your sincere
apologies.
Now, granted that the poster is a Brit, and obviously he's very upset about what happened 7/7. Also, obviously one can make a pretty good argument that US policies (which, realistically should include the Clinton administration, not just the current administration) have in some ways made the situation worse than it otherwise might be.

My point, though, is that the poster does not ONCE place primary blame where it belongs -- on the TERRORISTS. No, this Brit seems to be in the fine tradition of Neville "peace in our time" Chamberlain. Appeasement doesn't solve the problem, it just emboldens the terrorists. Fortunately, I'm confident that most Britons are willing to see that tiptoeing around in hopes of "not provoking the terrorists" will not work and will just bring more and more terrorist acts.

All of the above should NOT be taken to say that there aren't any number of non-military things we can and must do to decrease terrorism and bring about real peace. We can and must do more to bring about justice, rule of law, democracy, and economic opportunity to the Middle East -- first, because it's right, and second, because it will make the world as a whole safer. But craven idiots like the above won't accomplish this goal.

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Terri Schiavo's parents have issued a statement concerning the autopsy results. I have to say that they have handled themselves amazing throughout this time; I really admire their courage and tenacity in fighting for their daughter's life.

Terror bombing in London


CNN is reporting that terrorists have struck the London tubes (and a bus). How awful! My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families. America is with you!

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

A story on Datamation shows that DECnet is still hanging on to life and indeed thriving in some ways. I really liked DECnet when I was a VAX system manager -- it was incredibly easy to set up and use and gave transparent access to remote files long before PC networking did. DEC always had great technology.
Here's a really inspiring story a friend sent me about a college quarterback who gave up everything to enter the seminary. It's nice to see that men like Joe Freedy are stilling willing to answer the call.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Wow! Amazing success from the Deep Impact mission. Check it out. NASA is doing some cool stuff!
Hope all my readers had a wonderful Independence Day celebration!

For the 4th I took Marie up to Phoenix to meet my family (Dad, stepmom, oldest brother, nephew, oldest niece). We went to Red Robin for lunch, and had a nice time. Marie was nervous, but she was a trouper and I think my family liked her. It was good. I'd forgotten how yummy the Royal Red Robin burger is (and how filling!). Yummm. After lunch we hung at my Dad's for a little, then went to see War of the Worlds. I enjoyed it a lot (amazing special effects), but there were some definite holes in the plot that leave one wondering...

After the movie we drove back to Tucson, getting in just in time to watch the fireworks. Yea!

My new addiction is Coca-Cola Zero. Wow, this stuff is good. It tastes a lot like Coke used to taste back in the old, old days. Yummy. I just wish there were a caffeine-free version as my tolerance for caffeine seems to have gone south about 2 years ago. *sigh*

Friday, July 01, 2005

My apologies for not posting more -- life has been keeping me pretty busy and I have no idea where this week went!

One of the myths about stem cell research is that embryonic stem cells are far superior to adult stem cells. An article in Science Daily gives the lie to that, though:
In a ground-breaking study, scientists at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh have discovered that adult, or post-natal, stem cells have the same ability as embryonic stem cells to multiply, a previously unknown characteristic indicating that post-natal stem cells may play an important therapeutic role.
Thanks to Rae for the link.