Okay, this is amusing. Yesterday evening I was driving up on the northwest side of town (Ina and Thornydale). As I crossed the bridge over the Canada del Oro wash, there was a couple walking by the side of the road. The man was holding a sign up that said "HONK 4 BOOBS!". The driver ahead of me honked his horn loudly.... and the guy reached down, grabbed his shirt, and flashed him his boobs!

BWAHAHAHAHA! I really laughed at that one. :-)

Okay, I'm confused. I just weighed myself and I was at 220.5! That is the least I have weighed since I started trying to lose weight last July. I'm mystified, though, I don't think I've really done anything different. Hmm. Maybe it's because I had just finished my morning walk?

I had the following email from Rain Perry:

Hi, Gordon -

I was searching on Google under my name (which I do sometimes to keep track of downloaded mp3s in Romania!, etc.) and found your recent post about my album. Thanks! I really appreciate that these lyrics continue to mean something to people. Thanks for the support.

I thought you might like to know that I'm working hard on the songs for my next album, which is turning out to be some kind of magnum opus about my hippie childhood - an album/book/performance-piece-of-some-sort. I'll keep you posted.

Take care,
Rain

Rain lives and works in Ojai, California. If you've never been there, it's a beautiful place. Rain's music is by turns hard-driving, reflective, thought-provoking, and altogether terrific. Her album "Balance" is available from Amazon.com. Check it out, you'll like it.

Tucson's only ice skating rink is Gateway Ice Center, also called the Ice-o-plex. They have skate schools that start every odd month and run for two months. I'm considering taking ice skating lessons in May and June.

Of course, one might argue that a 39-year-old man in only so-so shape has no business taking skating lessons. One might also point out that I took rollerblading lessons last year and I broke my arm (my own fault, of course) and also that I am hardly going rollerblading weekly right now as it is. All I can say in my defense is that I'm hoping over the summer, when I have a lot more free time, that I can make some good habits that I'll be able to carry over into the fall.

Skate school is $12/lesson (8 lessons) Wednesday nights at 7. The idea of being in a nice cold rink during the hot summer has a lot of appeal... I'll let y'all know what happens.

Okay, this is my kind of story -- a guy named Scott who has been wearing a name tag everywhere he goes: 'Hello, my name is' one friendly guy. It's the goofy kind of thing that inspired the name of this blog.

Fr. Greeley... ah, Fr. Greeley. Gotta love 'im, gotta hate 'im. Still, he does have a way with words. Check out Reasons to abandon Catholicism abound. Whatever else one says, he does love God and the Church, albeit in his own way (don't we all, though?). Writing about people's stories why they leave the Church:

But most of the reasons I hear advanced these days are not of this sort.

They are rather tales of what some priest did or said, of what some nun taught you, of what some Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults director tried to impose on you, of some rule that a liturgist said you had to obey, of the moronic failure of the church to deal with the pedophile crisis, of the failure of bishops to speak out against the war, (which they have, of course, though no one hears them anymore), of the pastor who is spending huge sums of money on a church the parish doesn't need. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Summer is rapidly approaching here in the desert -- it hit 90 degrees today! Unfortunately, with the rising temperatures comes not just summer but also a different kind of season -- "Death in the Desert". Yep, unless something is done it's a fair bet tens or hundreds of people will die in the Arizona desert this summer for the crime of wanting a job in a different country. A group called Humane Borders has been working to try to assist border-crossers with water stations so that they won't die a horrible death under the desert sun. It's a worthy cause. Whatever you think about illegal immigration and border issues, surely we can all agee that when we ask "What would Jesus do?" we find something like this quote from Isaiah:

"They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water." Isaiah 49:10

It's been a very musical day. At 3 p.m. I attended a concert of The University of Arizona(tm) Community Chorus, Symphonic Choir and Chamber Orchestra performing Handel's "Israel in Egypt." It was quite a treat, and the church was jam-packed -- I wound up sitting in the balcony, and that was pretty full too. Then tonight I attended the senior recital of two of my friend Amber Lee's friends, Brianna Petty and Laura Nelson. It was a very good recital and I really enjoyed hearing them sing.

You might want to say a prayer for the lovely Jeanetta, that her computer may soon be healed.

"I am a moron." -- JMT :-)

Fun with periodontis. I went to the dentist today for my first session of treatment for periodontis. According to a handout I have, 75% of adults have some form of periodontis. Sheesh! Anyway, I will have (hopefully only) 4 treatments for this. The first one, today, consisted of three parts:

1. Michelle the dental hygenist used some kind of funky ultrasound instrument to do a rough root planing and scaling. This is to remove the largest segments of calculus (i.e., tartar that has hardened on your teeth) to get one's gums some immediate relief. She showed me a chunk of calculus. It's pretty gross. My gums bled a lot, which is due to their condition. It was a little painful at times but not too bad.
   
2. She then did one quadrant (today, upper right) of detailed root planing and scaling by hand. In future sessions she'll do the other quadrants.
   
3. Finally, she used a canulla (sp?) to wash the roots of my teeth with an anti-microbial agent (chor-hexadine?) to kill any bacteria living down there.
   

I go back next Friday for another installment. In the meantime, I've been told I need to use a different method of brushing my teeth, one that will put more pressure and stimulation on my gums where they meet my teeth. I also need to use a special little instrument to compress and compact my gums around my teeth to help them heal and fill in the pockets that formed around where the calculus was. I'm told I'll probably bleed a bit but it should improve with time.

I didn't have this problem when I went to the dentist last; the problem was that that was FOUR years ago. It's my own fault, and my own stupidity/laziness. Gentle reader, if you've not been to the dentist for a while, get thee hence! It's important. Really.

I went to watch the Tucson Sidewinders play Tacoma tonight. It was a beautiful night for baseball, albeit a smidge chilly (at least we Tucsonans would say so, it was probably in the upper 60s). It was a fun game, although the Sidewinders got beat 9-3. Oh well!

Mark Shea passed along this great piece that he and Amy Welborn (and others) wrote: Loving the Church in a Time of Scandal. Check it out, it's good.

I know nostalgia is usually a good thing, or at least neutral. For some reason, though, I got the urge to listen to the last recording of the Lane Justus Chorale, and it's unbearably sad. It's sad because the music is just so amazing, and it reminds me of what an incredible group it was and what a privilege it was to sing with a group like that. I know that whatever happens in my life, and I'm sure there will be many good things, I'll never again get to sing with a group like that. It's not that we were perfect, we weren't, but wow when we were on, we were really on.

If you haven't already, you should check out the Easter Vigil experiences of Will (permalinks not working) and Sean. It's really been great to see their spiritual growth in the time they've been blogging. Please keep them in your prayers still during this period of mystagogy!

Okay, reader, I need some input. We are trying to decide on an offertory hymn for our Living Stones graduation Mass. This should either be bilingual English/Spanish, or *perhaps in Latin*! So, what's your favorite offertory hymn? Let me know ASAP!

Music for Mass
SSPP Combined Choirs
Easter Vigil

Service of Light

Exultet: (Chant)

Liturgy of the Word

Reading 1 Psalm Response: Send Forth Your Spirit, O Lord (Walker)
Reading 3 Psalm Response: Let Us Sing To The Lord (OCP R&A)
Reading 5 Psalm Response: We Shall Draw Water (Inwood)
Gloria: Ss. Peter and Paul Gloria (Schiavone)
Gospel Acclamation: Celtic Alleluia, Easter verses 3-5 (Walker)

Liturgy of Initiation

Litany of the Saints: (Maher, arr. Peter Dodge & Gordon Zaft)
Acclamation after Blessing the Water: Springs of Water (DeBruyn)
Baptism: We Shall Draw Water (Inwood)
Sprinkling Rite: Flow River Flow (Hurd)
Confirmation: Veni Sancte Spiritus

Liturgy of the Eucharist

Preparation of the Gifts: The Risen Christ (Holler)
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: I Am The Bread Of Life (Toolan)

Closing Rite

Dismissal: (Chant)
Recessional: Jesus Christ Is Risen Today (EASTER HYMN)

All in all it was pretty nice. The Maher Litany was not really written to be a liturgical litany and required pretty extensive revision to be appropriate. Some people really liked it though; personally I'd have rather done the Becker Litany which is less monotonous, has twice as many saints, and has a much prettier melody. Oh well.

Okay, I know I still haven't posted the music for Easter Vigil, I promise I will do this tonight. I called in sick to work yesterday. Today I went to the dentist and got alarming news -- I have "moderate to severe periodontal disease". The good news is that if I do what they tell me to do everything will be fine. This is, I suppose, partly my fault for not having been to the dentist in 3+ years. *sigh*

Update: . Here's some info on periodontal disease which mentions that genetics can play a part in it. Thanks, Mom. *sigh*

After much wrangling, it's official -- Piestewa Peak gets state OK. I've blogged about this quite a bit in the last couple of weeks. I'm really glad that the state has decided to do this.

Happy Easter!

I'll blog more later about the Vigil, etc. Christ is risen!

Over on Catholic Light, Bryan Baldwin posts about going on an Opus Dei retreat, and Pete Vere blogs about it as well. Check it out. Pete provides some good links to read.