Bwahahaha! Check out Deacon Payne, Seminary Formationator! It helps if you are up on your obscure heresies... thanks to Catholic Light for the link!

New Car

I see I didn't actually blog it (my apologies!) but I did get the car I looked at. It will need a couple of small things done soon (brakes, etc.). Here's a picture! Every time I see it I think "Pretty car!"

It's a real joy to drive, too. It's a 5 speed and it's got a lot of get-up-and-go even though it's just a 2L engine. I'm really happy with it.

A really nice article in today's Oregonian -- Priest is a blessing to soldiers. In a time when so many can say nothing nice about the Catholic Church or the priesthood, it's nice to see something positive. God bless the chaplains, and all priests.

Car Update

I'm in the middle of purchasing a car! I just put a deposit down on a '99 Ford Escort ZX2. It's bright red and fun to drive, sporty but not so sporty I'll pay out the wazoo for car insurance. I just got the CarFax report (view it here 'til 5/24) and it's clean. Friday morning I'll have a mechanic check it out and if it's okay I'll buy it!

So, I'm back home in Portland. It was really hard to leave the sunshine and blue skies and warmth, to come back to highs in the 50s and lows in the 40s... *sigh*

I had a good visit. Saturday night was my godson Tommy's confirmation. He's 10. I was so proud of him! The priest asked them a question during his homily and Tommy raised his hand right away because he knew the answer. Later we played a game of chess and I came thisclose to losing! He's so bright. The whole family (he has 4 sisters (!)) is a real inspiration, especially when you read too many depressing stories about "kids today".

Had a good visit with my family too; my stepmom made a wonderful lunch on Saturday and all my nieces and nephew and brother and sister were there, it was great; also got to meet my Dad's cousin Laurie. Cool stuff!

I'm on vacation this week, having a lovely time visiting friends and family in Tucson and Phoenix. Yesterday Tucson's first In-N-Out Burger opened, and it was a zoo! I slipped in just before closing to get a 3x3. Yummmm!

Wow, this is a pleasant surprise! The Supreme Court has upheld the ban on partial-birth abortion! Maybe there is hope for our country after all.

Phew! I'm still trying to get my taxes done! Fortunately, the IRS says I have until April 17 this year!

This week I went on a work visit to the Microsoft campus in Redmond. It's an interesting place. Yes, they do get free drinks.... soda, milk, coffee, espresso, etc. That's pretty cool. And yes, everyone's in an office, not a cube. And the cafeteria looked nicer than ours at Intel. Still... not sure I'd want to work there. But fun to visit!

Happy Holy Thursday! We sang for 6:30 p.m. Mass tonight... this is such a good group, they are a lot of fun to sing with and it's amazing how well they/we watch and are sensitive sometimes. I'm still homesick for Tucson though, and remembering and imagining what it was like tonight back at SSPP... *sigh*

From yesterday's Oregonian, an interesting article that describes Intel's performance review process ("Focal"). Having gone through my first Focal this week, I came through okay and got a reasonable raise. I'm told Focal isn't nearly as daunting as it used to be, however.

Someone has posted video from the Oregon Chorale St. Patrick's Day concert, check it out:

Finnan Haddie (you can see me in the middle behind/between the two soloists) (not the whole song, unfortunately)

Eliot Grasso playing Uuileann pipes.

Also, check out Eliot's performance report. He has some kind words for the Chorale.

Oookay... apparently Arizona's former Governor, J. Fife Symington, now says that UFOs really did fly over Phoenix in 1997.

Now, THAT's a nun! Check out John Allen's inspiring mini-biography of Sr. Maria Rosa Leggol of Honduras.

Prayer requests -- 1) for M, who is losing her hearing. Please pray that the doctors will be able to figure out and halt whatever's going on, and grace for her to face this... 2) for T, who hurt her knee in a skating fall, that she be able to make a good and complete recovery and be back on the ice soon.

So... I handed over my Mazda 626 this morning to Allstate and got the check. *sigh* The VIN search they did indicated I bought the car 6/15/99, and today is 3/21/07, so... I had that car for 7 years and 9 months. *sigh*

The Oregon House has just passed a bill mandating private employers to cover birth control pills. It's not immediately clear how this will affect Catholic hospitals. There is apparently some kind of religious exemption for "religious employers who primarily hire and serve people of the same faith" -- but while that would presumably cover the Archdiocese, it probably doesn't apply to, say, Catholic Charities or other Catholic groups. Eeep!

Car update: The adjuster called me, and the final number for the mkt value of the Mazda was $2566. So, minus my deductible, I'll get $2066 when I bring them the car and title next Wednesday.

Currently I'm looking at a number of different options, from a Ford Focus to Hyundai Elantra and Kia Optima. I didn't want to spend too much money right now, just a basic car to commute in for the next 3-4 years.

This weekend is the Oregon Chorale St. Patrick's Day concert. I'm really looking forward to it.

I just got back from the insurance adjuster a while ago, and my car is going to be totaled. The estimated repair cost is somewhere north of $3200, which is rather more than the car is worth. So... sometime in the next week or so they're going to give me a check and I'll give them the title and they'll tow it away. *sigh*

So... still trying to decide if I want to get a new car, or just a new-to-me car. I had originally hoped to keep this car another 3 years or so, then buy a nice new car. Oh well.

A really cool article about a Tucson original and the founding of Sacred Heart Church. I was confirmed at Sacred Heart when I was in 8th grade, by Bishop Green.

Car Accident

I had a fender-bender this morning. I'm okay, there were no injuries (thank God!) but I crumpled up my front end pretty good. I was going to McD's after skating this morning and managed to somehow rear-end the guy in front of me at the stop light. Dented his bumper a bit (he had an SUV), but his bumper slid over mine and crumpled up my front end. Fortunately the car is still driveable.

*sigh*

A Year in Portland, Part 4

Skating

The skating situation in Portland is much improved over Tucson. Tucson’s rink has had 4 different management companies in the last 4 years, and appears to be on the brink of closing. Here, there are 4 different rinks in the area. However, none of the rinks here have more than one sheet of ice.

Leaving my rink buddies, and especially my coach Anna, was really, really hard, and it was tough on my skating. After not skating much at all for several months, I finally found a new coach (Lucy) at Valley Ice Arena; however, I was only with her for a couple of months before she left for the summer (she was skating in an ice show), so I decided to find a new coach and also to switch rinks. I’m now skating at Sherwood Ice Arena. This rink is rather farther from my home (12 miles vs. 3 or 4 for Valley), but it’s much nicer and the atmosphere and facility are a lot closer to what I was used to in Arizona.

Finding time to skate has been a bit of a problem. Even though there is a LOT more freestyle time here than in Tucson (and it’s much more consistent), the distance from work to the rink (19 miles from work to Sherwood!) means that during the week, I can only skate in the mornings before work. I’m skating less than I used to, and it’s costing me more. In Tucson I had a yearly pass that covered public sessions and coffee club, and I only skated one or 2 freestyle sessions a week. Here, I skate 3 FSs a week (or try) and Sunday public session when I can, and I’m paying $80 - $100 a month for ice. Coaching is more expensive, too – going rate is $60/hr vs. $50 in Tucson.

I found a new coach (Sonya), who I’ve been working with since the end of July. She’s terrific, and I’ve made good progress since then. I still really miss Anna, though – I had a really good connection with her and felt really enthusiastic and motivated to work hard. Here I am more self-motivated – this is not a reflection on Sonya, just that I relate to her differently; probably I just look at the coach-student relationship a little differently now. I suspect in some ways that’s probably better in the long run, but it was a hard adjustment.

I’ve made a few friends at Sherwood, but I have to admit that in many ways I still feel like a stranger there. For whatever reason – the environment, the town, or maybe my own demeanor – I found it a lot easier to make friends at the rink in Tucson. I still miss my friends there a lot; even though many of them have moved on themselves, we keep in touch. Skating friends are the best!

Wow! We're having unseasonably nice weather... 62 degrees and sunny!!

A Year In Portland, Part 3

The People

People here are… nice. Very nice. And chatty. Extremely chatty. Everywhere you go, people want to chat you up… on the MAX, in line at the store… They’re very friendly.

The area is overwhelmingly white, though that is changing. The Hispanic influence and numbers here are growing, although the area doesn’t seem to be adapting very gracefully. My parish has a Spanish Mass on Sundays, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of mingling. Having grown up in a very diverse place, Portland is a step back in many ways. On the other hand, work is a riot of people from all over – many Asian, but also African and European.

Besides being very white, the area is a mix of very liberal (esp. in Portland) and somewhat conservative (outlying areas). Not too surprising, actually; the state’s Congressional delegation is mostly Democrat and the Dems just took over the state legislature and re-elected the governor.

You tend to see a lot more overweight people than in Tucson, which I attribute to the weather. I could just be projecting, though, since I’ve gained 15 lbs. since I moved here (*sigh*). People do seem to be out and about in all kinds of weather, though, and they are very public-spirited and environmentally conscious. Also the mix of ages is not so slanted toward the young as it is in Arizona.

So... we had a dusting of snow this morning. When I was leaving for the rink (5:15 a.m) it was snowing pretty hard, but there wasn't much of an accumulation so I assume it had just started. It snowed about halfway to Sherwood and then it turned to rain. By the time I was coming back to Beaverton (7:30ish) there was just drizzle and some snow on the sides of the road. Still, not bad for the end of February.

Another one bites the dust... the Diocese of San Diego is filing for bankruptcy. Based on what I've read so far, it sounds like my hometown diocese of Tucson handled theirs better than anybody. A small point of pride in an otherwise horrible situation.

An interesting article about the development of McDonald's Filet-o-Fish sandwich. Apparently 23% of them are sold during Lent!

Thanks to Eric Ewanco for the link.

Happy Ash Wednesday!

I know, it seems a bit strange to wish you a "happy" Ash Wednesday. If I'd said "Holy Ash Wednesday" you'd have wanted to add ", Batman!", wouldn't you?!

I've decided for Lent I'm going to give up snacking at work. I've been doing waaaay too much of that and it's part of the reason I've gained back 15 lbs. since I moved to Oregon. Sheesh. So in the future, I'll have OJ and oatmeal in the morning, a relatively healthy lunch, and one small snack (like, an apple) in the afternoon. That should help, I hope.

Tonight our choir is singing for 6 p.m. Mass. Should be good!

Saturday Marie and I took a drive down to Mt. Angel Abbey. It's a very rustic and beautiful environment. We checked out the bookstore (managed to withstand temptation!), the museum, and the church. Unfortunately we didn't make it to the library before it closed. All in all it was a nice little excursion (it's a bit over 40 miles from Beaverton). It would be a great place to make a retreat, and apparently they have a Bach festival every summer that would be fun to attend.

Saturday evening Marie and I attended a Valentine's Day dance at our parish. It wasn't well attended, unfortunately, but we had a pretty nice time.

A Year In P ortland, Part 2

Singing

There are a number of choirs in the Portland area, but most of them rehearse and perform in Portland itself. Since I’ve decided that the commute into the city is something I want to avoid whenever possible, I decided to join the Oregon Chorale (www.oregonchorale.org), a group that was identified for me by one of my former choir directors for Collegium Musicum back in Tucson. I auditioned for them in March 2006 and it went reasonably well. The audition included the opportunity to sit in on a rehearsal, which was really nice and gave me a good feel for the group dynamic. The director (Bernd Kuehn) warned me at the time that they didn’t have any current openings but that he’d keep me on his list.

In mid-September I got an email from Bernd offering me a spot in the Chorale, and I’ve been singing with them since. It really is a good group, and a lot of fun. Rehearsals are Monday nights at Century High School in Hillsboro (the CHS choir director is a member, and Bernd used to teach there anyway). Since it’s close to work I just work late, grab some dinner and then go to rehearsal. Our first concert was in December, a performance of the C.P.E. Bach Magnificat with the Pacific University choir. We did a performance at Pacific (it’s in Forest Grove) and another performance in Hillsboro. A week later we had another concert at The Grotto, a Marian shrine in Portland that has a huge Christmas festival every year. From what I can tell, practically every choir in the area performs at the Grotto during Advent. That concert was a bunch of Christmas music (some of which we performed along with the Magnificat, and some of which was new to me but not new to most of the group), and my Aunt Nancy and cousin Robin came, which was pretty neat.

The Chorale is going on tour to Scotland and Ireland next year, and our upcoming concert in March will be all Scottish and Irish music. It’s pretty neat.

Besides the Chorale, I joined the 10:45 a.m. choir at my parish (St. Cecilia in Beaverton). It’s a small group (usually about 14), but we do some good music. Unlike the Schola that I sang in at Ss. Peter and Paul in Tucson, this group does mostly contemporary music although there is some older stuff too (Mendelssohn, etc.). I’d not sung in a “regular” church choir for a long time (Schola only sang once a month) and it is a little bit of a grind at times, but it’s also nice to be part of a dedicated and vibrant group that works hard and has a lot of fun too. We sang a concert for Epiphany that was very well-received and a nice way to end the Christmas season.

Unlike Tucson, I’m not doing any “extra” singing at the parish. At SSPP I sang a lot of stuff like cantoring for the penance services, Thanksgiving, and during the summer. St. Cecilia has a cantor that sings with the choir (she has a beautiful voice) and other than filling in once when both of the cantors were sick/unavailable I’ve not been asked to fill that role. That’s fine with me, though, as I have plenty of other things to do!

I'm somewhat amused (and somewhat aghast) at the latest hoo-hah over the two anti-Catholic bloggers that John Edwards hired for his campaign. Revolution 21 calls it pretty accurately -- if they'd said this kind of stuff about any other group (blacks, Jews, gays) they'd have been fired in a nanosecond. Instead, even after the Catholic League went after them, Edwards gets an apology out of them and says he'll give them a "fair shake". A shake by the scruff of the neck would be more apropos, methinks.

Fighting fire with ... nothing: Horowitz off the mark, but so is GPSC - Opinions

Apparently while I've been busy with my nose to the grindstone, there's been a minor dustup at The University of Arizona® about an article by David Horowitz ("Abusive Academics") criticizing UA professors for imposing liberal political views on their students. Apparently the GPSC passed a resolution that the Wildcat found fault with --
Fighting fire with ... nothing: Horowitz off the mark, but so is GPSC - Opinions.

It's certainly true in my (limited) experience that many UA profs felt free to voice their political opinions, but so long as they don't penalize students for holding opposite opinions I don't see what the issue really is.

I couldn't resist...

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Very Lord Gordon the Infinite of Much Moulding upon Carpet Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Marie and I attended a very cool class that's starting at our parish on John Paul II's Theology of the Body. It's a video series by Christopher West, with small group discussions afterward. I was expecting 20 people or so, but instead there were more like 60 or 70! It meets for 8 consecutive Thursdays. Good stuff.

In other news, the weather has been really, really nice lately. Like, the sun has been shining all week! It's put me in an outrageously good mood, for the most part. Tomorrow Marie and I are supposed to go to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newburg. It should be a lot of fun.

Finally, a cool discussion on Amy Welborn's blog on why Catholics "revert" to the Church after being away. Check it out, it's very inspiring.

A Year in Portland (Part 1)

I’ve now been in the Portland area for more than a year, so it’s a good time to look back and reflect on my (still) new surroundings.

The Job

I’ve been at Intel for a year now. It’s a very different kind of place. Of course, it’s huge. Intel has almost 1000 times the number of people at my last job! Even at the campus I work at (Jones Farm), there are probably 4,000 people. Intel employs something like 16,000 people here in Washington County at a number of different campuses.

So of course it’s very corporate. Intel has a definite corporate culture that they spend a lot of time training you on. Classes like “Effective meetings” and “Constructive Confrontation”. Actually for the most part they are pretty helpful. Everyone has a badge that you have to wear all the time, and that gets you into the building. Most people at Intel work in cubes – it’s one huge cube farm. I’m one of the lucky ones in that I work in a hard-walled lab (badge gets me in there, too), so I have a bit more space and privacy. For the first 4 or 5 months, though, I was in a cube until they finished remodeling our lab. I miss having windows, though, and the great view I had at my old job.

Despite the fact that it’s a big place, it’s really a very relaxed environment. As a salaried employee, I don’t have anyone tracking me nor do I fill out a timecard. The question is mostly, am I getting my work done and can people reach me if they need to? I really appreciate having a flexible schedule, it makes life a lot simpler.

We have a gym at work, with showers and everything. It’s great, because when I skate in the morning I can just come straight to work and take a shower there. There’s a Pilates class 3x/week that I try to attend – it’s free, even! – and it’s a lot of fun and good for my core strength. Besides the gym we have a very nice cafeteria, microwaves, refrigerators… there’s no real reason to have to leave the building once you get here.

I feel like I work a lot harder at this job than I had to at my last one, and there’s a lot of stress. The stress I feel here, though, is mostly “oh my God I have so much to do!” which is probably better than the stress I had at my old job (“oh my God there’s no way we can do all that, and the customer is really mad, and my boss is a jerk!”). I did get a nice bump in pay to come here, though, so it feels worth it. My boss and my co-workers are great, and that helps a lot too. Besides our base pay we get bonuses in January and July (or August).

One of the other advantages of working for a big company is discounts! We get discounts for all kinds of stuff – for example, my Sprint plan is discounted, discounts at my car dealer, at fast food restaurants – it’s great. We also get an employee discount of about 50% on processors, so I’ve taken advantage of that already.

Intel is a very matrixed organization, and everyone works very independently, so I work on a project team (I was assigned to two teams at once for most of last year). The rest of my team is at our facility in Dupont, WA (between Olympia and Tacoma), so I have to travel there periodically (3 times this month, but that’s more than usual) for meetings or other activities. Fortunately Intel has an air shuttle to/from there, so I can get there in about 1.5 hours (it’s about a 2.5 hour drive if I have to drive), which makes for a long day but I can do it pretty readily.

So what do I do? My group puts together Software Development Platforms (SDPs) – basically, desktop/mobile/server systems that offer pre-released hardware (processors, chipsets, etc.) that we make available for people inside Intel as well as some of our partners. My job as an Interoperability Engineer is to test the SDPs from a user perspective – can they use it to develop and test their software? Are there problems? If so, can they be worked around (and how)? Since we are usually the first group putting all these pieces together there’s always something. It’s a lot of fun, though, I’m always getting new hardware to play with and I really love that. Of course there’s paperwork to do L but that’s the way it goes.

On the other hand, Intel is definitely a manufacturing company. Having been strictly a software person for so long, it’s been a definite adjustment. There’s just a very different outlook and approach to things.

I do kind of miss managing people – that was my favorite part of my old job. However, from watching my boss, I don’t think I’d want to be a manager at Intel – it looks like it would not be that much fun. I’m glad to just be an “Individual Contributor.”

(Part 1 of several. Crossposted to MySpace too)

And a Belated Happy Birthday to blogger buddy Brenda Elfgirl! HBBD Bren, hope it was good!

Snow Day

The Portland area was hit hard by a snowstorm this morning; I estimate about 4 inches fell here at my place. So ... working from home today. Marie and I took a walk about lunchtime and took some pictures:



This is the parking lot at our condo. Here's a semi that slid across Walker Road near our house:



And.. here's one of Marie and I:

So... sorry for the lack of substantive posting. December was a blur -- work was absolutely crazy, Marie got her bottom wisdom teeth (then had a dry socket and was in agony for quite some time), trip to Arizona and Vegas was good. Marie and I sang for 8 p.m. Mass, then I got to sing with the Schola for 10 p.m. "midnight" Mass at SSPP. It was really joyous to be home and with the SSPP-ers. Had a great visit with the family, got to see some of my skating buddies, caught up with some others. Unfortunately I did not get to see many I would have liked... ah well.

Yesterday evening the St. Cecilia choir did an Epiphany concert, performing Michael W. Smith's "Agnus Dei" as well as some other pieces. It was a pretty nice concert and surprisingly well attended. This is the first time we've done an Epiphany concert, apparently, but hopefully it will become a tradition. It's great to close the Christmas season in this way.

This is encouraging -- scientists have found promising stem cells in amniotic fluid. Hopefully this can derail the embryonic stem cell death march.

Not surprising, but AP reports that German population continues to decline.

Happy Belated Birthday to Jane! She's just a lass of 22, and already she can't stand most liturgical music :-). Hope it was good!

I'm officially old. Yesterday I picked up my new glasses -- my first pair of bifocals. *sigh*

I went to Dupont for work today. Unfortunately the timing for this trip was bad, since the air shuttle home was cancelled due to a heavy wind/rainstorm. So I had to carpool back from Dupont with some coworkers; we had to wait forever for a rental car, then I-5 was closed for about an hour due to a downed tree. I wound up getting home 4+ hours later than I otherwise would have. I'm reallllly tired.

Marie and I went to see the Christmas Ship Parade last night on the Willamette. It was a lot of fun! Although "ship" is a bit of an overstatement -- they are really boats. The decorations were quite pretty though. My favorites were one that had an outline of a salmon and lights that blinked "CO HO HO", and also one that had an "L" in a circle-slash (No-L, get it? It took me a second).

Also last night I shaved off my beard, except for a little bit under my lower lip that I kept for an experiment -- it looks dorky though, so it and the mustache will probably go soon.

A very moving editorial about the James Kim story: Ultimate dad knew meaning of devotion / Why futile journey of a stranger had nation mesmerized.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.

An interesting article on frozen embryos and the controversy and confusion as to what should be done with them. It's interesting how the human spirit resists the commoditization of them as "objects" in spite of so many efforts to characterize them as mere hunks of tissue.

Thanks to Mark Shea for the link.

Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception!

I went to the vigil Mass last night at my parish. Fr. Steve gave one of the best homilies on the IC that I've ever heard (must write a note!).

On the other hand, the folk group did the music. The closing was "Hail Holy Queen" sounding like it was supposed to be the "Sister Act" arrangement. I was resolved that if people started rhythmically clapping I would find something to throw... fortunately they did not. Gaaah!

This weekend I performed in my first two concerts with the Oregon Chorale. We performed the C.P.E. Bach "Magnificat" with choirs from Pacific University. It was a lovely pair of performances. The Magnificat is rarely heard (compared with J.S.'s) and the last movement is especially challenging.

Moment from tonight's concert -- thinking "phew, I'm tired. How many pages to go? Dang, only on page 111!" (of 124). And our conductor forgetting to bring us in on the Gloria Patri :-).

Marie made me watch the latest American Dad with her, where Stan's secret figure skating addiction is revealed. I had to laugh, it was pretty funny and well done.

Bishop Moreno was laid to rest yesterday. Rest in peace, Bishop.

In paradisum deducant te Angeli; in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem. Chorus angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere æternam habeas requiem.

So... it snowed today, or so I'm told. I didn't actually see any of it. I did have to drive back from choir rehearsal in Hillsboro home to Beaverton on roads that were ice and slick. That was an adventure!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving. Mine's been pretty nice so far. Sang for 9 a.m. Mass, came home and relaxed, then enjoyed an amazingly amazing dinner. Marie really outdid herself -- the ham she made was to die for! Really, just amazing.

Anyway, I have a lot to be thankful for. Deo Gratias!

The Star has a nice eulogy/remembrance of Bishop Moreno. I'm told that the SSPP Schola will be singing at the vigil service next week. *sigh* If I were there, I'd be singing.

I didn't get a chance last week to blog about Sun open-sourcing Java. A lot of people had been calling for this, and Sun had been making noises about it for some time, but I was still rather suprised (and pleased) at this move. As someone who worked on a Java-compliant JVM for some time (at NewMonics) I am pleased that I no longer have to worry about being clean-room contaminated by seeing Java source.

Check out the Slashdot discussion for some insight too.

Woo-hoo!! The Wildcats beat the Ducks yesterday!! 37-10! I'm pretty stoked. Of course it figures that the one game they play in Oregon and I couldn't go because of choir retreat yesterday *sigh*.

Check out Hansen's column too.

Bishop Moreno passed away Friday evening (here are the diocesan press release and obituary). Considering the news reports it was hardly surprising, but still sad. I had a lot of good memories of him, though I couldn't say I knew him well. I was privileged to dine in his company a couple of times at SSPP, and had met him several times. He always struck me (as others have said) as a very gentle, humble, holy man. I remember when he was first installed as bishop he came to the Newman Center at UA, where I was a student at the time. I was impressed by his approachability and his openness.

I know that for some his legacy will be the mistakes that he made in the handling of abusive priests. I honestly believe that he did the best he could and that he intended no harm. He apologized for the mistakes he'd made, and I believed he was sincere. At any rate, he's gone to meet the only one truly qualified to judge him.

Rest in peace, Bishop Manuel.

Apparently the UK is working hard on catching up to the Netherlands on the euthanasia front -- Wesley J. Smith on Respectable Baby Killing.

Thanks to Mark Shea for the link.

The Star is reporting that Bishop Moreno's condition is worsening, and he may be near death. Please pray for him.

The US bishops have issued their latest statement on homosexuality (read the actual text for yourself here). Nothing really new here, but some good explanations that will be helpful (e.g. homosexuality being "intrinsically disordered" as an inclination doesn't mean that homosexuals are intrinsically disordered people, or that God loves them less).

Thanks to Mark Shea for the link.

So... the election is over. Some surprising stuff -- Arizona is the only state that didn't pass a gay marriage ban; parental notification didn't pass here in Oregon; and the stem cell initiative in Missouri did pass. I'd chalk it up to an energized liberal base and a discouraged and demoralized conservative base. I'd bet if most of this stuff had been on the ballot in 2004 it would have been different.

Finally! Vista was RTM-ed today. Since I've been playing with various versions for the past 4-5 months, I'm glad that it's finally on the way. Not that I am horribly impressed with it. It is *very* pretty, but for the most part I think it will be a big "so what" for Joe Consumer.

Today would have been my mom's 76th birthday. DANG, she would have been OLD... it's hard to picture. I used to tease her about being an old woman when she was only50. Happy birthday Mom, I miss you.

It's definitely "fall" here... overnight lows are in the mid 30s (brrr!), and driving to work I was driving through flurries of leaves that were carried in the wind made by passing cars -- it was kind of interesting/neat to look at. And of course over the weekend we all mucked with our clocks again -- what a stupid system!

With things like this happening, can the End be far behind? It reminds me of the Ghostbusters quote:

Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Mayor: What do you mean, "biblical"?
Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath-of-God type stuff.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly.
Dr Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling.
Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes...
Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria.

Congratulations to "Jane" on her engagement!!!

United Way Conundrum

My company is in the midst of the annual United Way campaign, and I'm faced with a conundrum. The Intel Foundation matches gifts given through the campaign, but the match doesn't go to the agency you choose, but to UW's Community Fund.

I'm concerned that organizations that I can't support (like Planned Parenthood, for example) may receive funding through the Community Fund, and that therefore if I participate I may be indirectly aiding an organization that is diametrically opposed to my beliefs. If that's the case I'd be better off just giving as I do now and skipping UW altogether.

I'm going to do some digging to see what's in the UW Community Fund.

I'm still getting over the crud I've had. I had a call from the choir director at church last night asking me if I could cantor this morning since the usual cantor's daughter broke her leg. So I said yes, of course. I've been singing with this group for 3 weeks and I'm cantoring already!

Unfortunately my voice was not at its best since I've been so sick. I did okay, though. The amusing point for the morning is that I was busily singing the opening song, and as Fr. Pat processed past me, he reached over and turned my microphone on! I hadn't realized it was off and needed to be turned on. If I had not been otherwise occupied I would have laughed and laughed.

Sick Day. *bleah* I've been feeling a bit run-down this last couple of days; it looks like the bug running around work finally caught up with me. With all the stress from the re-structuring and uncertainty I guess it's not surprising a lot of people have been sick. So it's a day to stay home and have some chicken soup, I guess.

Happy Founder's Day

to all my brothers in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. May the values we hold dear always light your path and guide your steps, and may you always find in music your lasting joy.

I was watching "Lost" last night (what a great season opener! Although the show seems to be going in a pretty trippy direction) and in the opening scene one of the characters is listening to Petula Clark's "Downtown". It reminded me I'd always wanted to get this song, so I just bought it on iTunes and i'm listening to it now. It makes me happy, and nostalgic, and reminds me of my early childhood. Yay!

I'm officially old. I had an ophthalmologist appointment today, and he confirmed that I need bifocals. *sigh*

Schism

It appears Archbishop Milingo has gone into schism by ordaining 4 married men as bishops. The Baltimore Sun reports also.

Thanks to Peter Edwards for the links. Check out his commentary. Apparently all concerned are excommunicated, but the consecrations are valid. *sigh*

It's been an interesting week. Wednesday I went to choir practice at St. Cecilia's. It's a nice bunch and I think I'll really enjoy singing with them. Today I talked with the director of the Oregon Chorale, and he invited me to join them (I auditioned for them in March, I think). So... I'll be joining them Monday. I'm really looking forward to it.

The Religion of Peace strikes again. It's pretty ironic that the quote in question talked about converting people by the sword, which is exactly what Al-Qaeda is threatening to do.

Sorry I've fallen off the face of the earth!

I went to Arizona for about 9 days, where I visited with friends and family and got to go to lots of my favorite places. It was a really nice vacation and it was good to be back. Sunday 9/10 I got to sing with the Schola again; we did the Palestrina "Assumpta Est Maria" and "Sicut Cervus". It was glorious. I also got to see my oldest goddaughter play her very first soccer game! Issie did a great job, which isn't surprising since her parents are coaches and her older siblings all play. Still, she did really well -- much better than the other 4 year olds! I was impressed.

After I got back I had a fun time digging out at work. They still haven't told us specifically who they are letting go and what programs they are canceling or curtailing. It's been stressful.

I decided to join the choir at my parish (St. Cecilia); I talked to the choir director yesterday after Mass. Rehearsals are Wednesdays 7-9.

Some people claim there's no discrimination against Catholics. Not true even in "civilized" Scotland, where a player was penalized for making the Sign of the Cross.

Thanks to Mark Shea for the link.

I really like this guy.

As often happens, I'm up in Dupont (WA) for work today. Flying up this morning on the Intel shuttle, I went from being below the overcast to being in the beautiful bright sunshine. It was a really amazing sight -- bright sunshine, cloud deck underneath, and then sticking up through the clouds I could see Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens (complete with wisps of steam/smoke trailing from it) and Mt. Rainier. Awesome!

I've been thinking about this whole Israel-Hezbollah thing for a while, and on Friday this hit me..

Situation: Country with big army is victim of dastardly terrorist attack. Country decides to take out the terrorists by attacking them and the country that hosts them.

If "Country" above is "United States" world cheers and supports you when terrorists = "Al Quaeda" and host country = "Afghanistan."

However, if "Country" is "Israel", terrorists is "Hezbollah" and host country is "Lebanon", world is horrified and country is pressured to end the fighting etc.

It seems pretty hypocritical. If we have the right to defend ourselves in that situation, so does Israel. I'm not a big fan of Israel in general, I think they've often gone way overboard and have treated the Palestinians pretty shabbily. That doesn't mean they don't have the right to defend their country against terrorists who rocket their country from a neighhboring country that can't or won't stop the terrorists.

This is pretty cool, there's a website for Opus Dei blogs. If you'd like to know more about Opus Dei than the image portrayed in Da Vinci Code, check it out.

Miscellaneous stuff...

Wednesday was my 4-week anniversary of going to Pilates class. So far, so good. It's still kicking my butt, but things are improving and best of all I don't have a major problem (so far!) with either motivation or making time for it, so that's good. I think it's a good balance for my skating and should help me feel better in many ways.

Marie and I have gotten really into watching "So You Think You Can Dance" on Fox; but, with last week's dismissal of Allison and this week's loss of Ivan, I'm seriously bummed. I wanted each of them to win and I really enjoyed watching them dance together. *sigh*

Happy Birthday, Mother Angelica!

Today is Mother Angelica's 83rd birthday. God bless you Mother A!

Thanks to Catholic Light for the link.

Wednesday night I attended the last of the 3 Portland Symphonic Choir Summer Sings. This one was less well attended than the previous two, but still a good crowd. We sang:

• Ralph Vaughan Williams, "In Windsor Forest" (skipped one movement)
  
• A Brahms selection
• Haydn, "Mass in Time of War" (up through the Credo, I think)
• Ralph Vaughan Williams, "Dona Nobis Pacem"

The Dona Nobis Pacem is the reason I went. It's a beautiful, beautiful piece; the texts are some poems by Walt Whitman as well as some Biblical texts. I sang it with the Ventura County Master Chorale in the late 80s. It's one of the most moving pieces I know.

Today marks the 37th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing. It's sad to see how stagnant our space program has become -- so many hopes and dreams of those days are still unfulfilled.

Today was kind of a tough day. It was the anniversary of my brother Greg's death. My brother Gary had sent an email yesterday, sharing stories about Greg; I sent him some remembrances of my own. He was on my mind a lot today.

God works in interesting ways. One of them was that (just as last week) I attended the Summer Sing that the Portland Symphonic Choir has been sponsoring. Believe it or not, it wasn't until I got there that I realized that we would be singing the Mozart Requiem on this special day for me. I had to smile at the way God's plan works out sometimes. As it turned out, the Requiem was beautiful and really helped me be more at peace with Greg's loss.

Interesting quotes on abortion.... John Allen interviewed an Ugandan theologian, Fr. John Mary Waliggo, and got this excerpt:

What about abortion?
I identify with the victims of suffering, and no one is more speechless, more voiceless, more silent, than the unborn child. To me, it's like defending the blind. If I see someone attacking a blind person, I will beat him with a stick. This is my attitude to attacks on an unborn child too.

Maybe if we in the US were so committed we wouldn't have abortion in our society.

Local news makes national news -- a plane participating in the Oregon Air Show crashed as it was leaving for home. A house in Hillsboro (the town I work in) was destroyed, but it looks so far like the only casualty was the pilot.

It's been a fun weekend. Saturday morning we got Marie a car. It's a '97 Ford Taurus we got from an ad on Craigslist. It's a beautiful car! It's only got 68,000 miles and it's in immaculate condition. We bought it from a nice older professional couple. They were a real pleasure to work with. We had a mechanic check it out before we bought it and he concurred -- it's in great shape. It's a very pretty maroon color and it's got a 3.0L V6 -- Marie loves it.

Saturday night we went bowling with a bunch of friends and I had a lifetime best (I think) game of 119. I had two games where I actually managed to bowl back-to-back strikes! What a good feeling! Of course Marie bowled a 158 :-).

Intel is making news, but not in a good way. The company announced today that it's laying off 1000 managers.

July

July is a troublesome month for me. It's the month of my sister's birthday, and my stepmother's birthday, my Dad's birthday, and my brother Gary's birthday. It's also the month my mother died, and the month my brother Greg died. It's a difficult month.

Today's the 22nd anniversary of my mother's death. I miss you Mom, and I love you.

Happy Independence Day

I've had a quiet day. Marie is off visiting family so I'm by myself. I was off from working yesterday and today so it's a been a 4-day "mini-vaca". Nice! I've done some stuff around the house and just relaxed a bit.

It would appear that the wheels are already starting to fall off the Episcopal Church.

Thanks to Mark Shea for the link.

I went up to Intel's Dupont facility on Friday for work; it was a gorgeous day. I managed to get a tour of Intel's Remote Access cluster. Wow! For a hardware geek like me, it was very, very cool. Until you are face-to-face with it, it's hard sometimes to remember just how challenging it is to maintain a large (256-node) cluster, with accompanying fat network pipes, management overhead, etc. All in all they have a pretty large number of machines. It's very, very cool. I've not had so much fun since I got to tour the San Diego Supercomputer Center back in... 96?

On the way back I snagged a picture of Mt. Rainier from my camera phone:

First Things' Fr. John Neuhaus has some good insight into the recent dismissal of Robert Smith from the board of directors for the DC transit authority, and its implications for all who hold the traditional view of the morality of homosexual activity:

The removal of Robert Smith is thus an early-warning sign. Unless things change in ways now quite unforeseeable, it will not be very long before the principle of traditional Western morality that homosexual conduct is immoral will be contrary to the public policy of the United States. As this new public policy takes hold, it will filter through the law and society just as other anti-discrimination norms have. Adherence to the new policy will be a de facto requirement for holding public office, and, as private entities adopt the policy as they have other anti-discrimination norms, people adhering to the traditional moral view will become unfit to serve as directors of public corporations, as officers of professional associations, as union officials, and as university professors. Organizations that do not ascribe to the policy may lose government licenses necessary to carry on their business, become ineligible to receive grants and subsidies, and be disqualified from bidding on government and other contracts. Catholic Charities in Boston recently had to cease arranging adoptions because Massachusetts required that it not discriminate against same-sex married couples in placing children. Organizations not ascribing to the new policy may even lose tax-free status under the Internal Revenue Code to which they would otherwise be entitled. This happened to Bob Jones University because of its racist policies; there is no reason why, a few years hence, the same thing could not happen to Notre Dame because of what will be called its homophobic policies.

Thanks once again to Mark Shea for the link.

It would appear that the Episcopal Church is giving the Anglican Communion the finger -- Episcopalians Reject Ban on Gay Bishops. It's too bad, but I guess it's the essence of Protestantism at work.

Thanks to Mark Shea for the link.

Fascists in Vegas -- not surprising, but still. Apparently speaking about Jesus is the equivalent of hate speech and won't be tolerated.

And apparently the Presbyterians are at it again.

Thanks to Mark Shea for the links.

So... lots of small stuff. Marie's parents are visiting. We took them to see "Nacho Libre" on Sunday... save your money! Marie's dad is even better than Marie at kicking my butt in Scrabble. We went to the nature park Friday evening, and saw some of the biggest and scariest slugs I've ever seen in my life. Okay, that's not why we went, but it was definitely "memorable."

Sunday was Father's Day. We took Marie's Dad and her friend Rob (both dads) out to dinner to celebrate. I had a chance to call my own Dad and talk to him a bit and wish him the sentiments of the day. It was good to talk to him -- he was having brunch with my brother Gary.

Happy Flag Day!

It's a grand old flag.

An interesting piece from Nat Hentoff, The Devaluing of Human Life. How sad that a 9-year-old can see what so many cannot.

Thanks to Mark Shea for the link.

So Marie and I went to get new phones on Friday. We have a shared-minutes plan now so we can call each other for free, etc. It's pretty neat. Marie got an LG Fusic LX550 phone, it's uber-cool. I got an LG 350, it's pretty neat too -- Bluetooth-enabled, has a camera, etc., etc. And of course it was pretty inexpensive since I've been a Sprint customer for a long time. Best of all I can get a 15% discount since I'm an Intel employee. Yay!

The hard thing, though, was that I had to transfer all my phone entries to the new phone manually, deleting them as I went so I can donate the phone. In doing so I came across my brother Greg's entry... having to delete it brought it all back to me. It's not even been a year since his death, and I miss him more than words can say.

Congrats to the amazing University of Arizona® Wildcat softball team, who won their 7th national title! Way to go ladies, you make all us Wildcats proud!

I've been getting into podcasts lately. There are a number of interesting Catholic podcasts, especially. Perhaps the most interesting/unusual one I've come across so far is Francis Cardinal Arinze's podcast. I've only listened to one Arinze podcast so far, but it was fascinating. The man is amazing.

Some other worthwhile podcasts I've come across:

• Catholic Exchange's Rock Solid with Mark Shea
• Heart Mind and Strength Radio
• The Weekly Roman Observer

Check 'em out.