Thirsty

"Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all." - Peter Drucker A prize for the first person who explains why I think this quote brings understanding to a sorely misunderstood ethical issue. :)

It seems that an inspirational man has just died. Some of you may have caught a whiff of it on the news, a skydiver who collided with his airplane mid-flight, got his legs sheered off, still managed to make a landing while conscious, and died in the emergency room. Grab a membership at Dropzone.com forums to listen in on the genuine mourning and testaments to the impact Gus had on people, and stop in at GusWing.com for a more structured memorial. He gave us lasting memories of the best times of our lives. His work captured the sheer joy humans are capable of. - Elizabeth May Damn.... My team trained at DeLand 2003/2004; Gus always had time to talk to anyone, in this case me; he didn't need to know who you were. Listening to his stories of early skysurf camera and Grand Canyon jumps and you soon realise the history he has personnally added to the sport. Gus apparently died just a while ago, wow one of the nicest people you ccould ever meet with a great outlook on life, what a t...

"Perhaps the issue is that many American Catholics have strayed too far from the church's values," said Gold Coast resident Debra Gibson. - Patience urged with Pope - Jamie Francisco, Chicago Tribune (get an instant login to the Trib via BugMeNot )

I find myself torn between this being a personal journal to catalog my life, for myself and anyone interested, and an actual "work", a study of Catholicism, a study of a quest for authenticity. Especially recently, I've felt very drawn into the study of the impact of the "Papal bull" on we, the body of Christ, and the world in general. But I don't want to lose my journal either, because that's the entirety of my relevance. This past week I made some progress at work, but only to be replaced with more urgency. Got the company fax server back up and running faster, but now trying to get the backup server/policy all worked out, the only difference being that the Prez is just as interested in this project as the VP/my boss.. which of course adds a bit of tension. :) Oh also worked out an SSL problem that was looking pretty intimidating. Yesterday morning I pulled myself out of bed to go to the 2nd of 3 training sessions to become a "Minister of Ca...

In this scenario, I would be the Dogbert character. :) The only discrepancy being that about 60% of the time, the "freezing up" is in no way my fault. Also, thanks Sabeena for letting me know why I keep gettin' all twitchy: Emails 'hurt IQ more than pot'

We have a Pope!!! I got to watch it all, from the white smoke to the refusal of thousands to leave the square afterwards.

The Prez gave the Press a little attention on his flight home from the big funeral. A Dr. Farrow discusses Bill C-38 (via LSN , drill down with Wikipedia ), a proposed Canadian bill concerning the definition of marriage. A little easy reading, The Selfish Giant , by Oscar Wilde, a simple tale to clear and focus your mind. Biblical proof that all you leftists are fools. ;-) (thanks PZ!)

These past two weeks feel more like two months. After the climax of remembrance called "Holy Week", it was truly time to celebrate. I dropped the dark theme I had installed on here for the duration of Holy Week, and switched back to the normal light colors, along with the Easter red interspersed throughout. This symbolizes the blood that was spilled that we would know how so very much we are loved. Sure, "God loves me", but the notion that Jesus suffered and died for us makes the notion that "God loves me" burn so much more strongly within me. What a life that asks of us! Many have noted how fitting is it that John Paul II would have been given this time to pass on. My initial cynical thoughts were, "yeah, yeah, any time would have been fitting!" Funny though, there a couple of strong objections to that. First, so what if any time would have been fitting? Doesn't that even further exhibit how much of a shepherd he was for the unive...

As the media reminds us of the great impact John Paul II had on the world, let us remind ourselves of the challenge that the new pope will inherit. As the College of Cardinals gathers in obedience to select the successor, let us pray for them, and what they will be loosing upon the world. Let us pray that God's will be done above all. John Paul the Great, thank you everything you were. We pray for your intercession into the hearts of your Bishops, that the man chosen will submit himself fully to Christ within. Take some extra time this week to offer your thoughts and prayers up to this process. This is a moment in history where it is hard to discount the power of prayer. Also, please know that this is not only a moment of concern for the Catholic faithful, but all of mankind, to whose service the pope dedicates his life entirely. Update: 4/5 Public access station WGN will be broadcasting the funeral at 3AM Chicago time, Friday morning. How would you have liked to have yo...

The case has been discussed to death, no pun intended. As the BBC puts it, we are a deeply divided nation. The highest ranks of government are pleading for something that due process is not willing to give. It seems, according to the law, there is now little room for keeping the suffering woman named Terri Schiavo alive. The question being thrown about has been, "Who gets to be Terri's spokesperson?" It's an interesting question. It's like asking, "Who does Terri get to be a slave to?" on the one hand, or, "Who would Terri give her life to?" on the other hand. To me, the deeper question is, How did we get here in the first place? Today, the nation declares, if bregrudgingly, it's acceptance of the precepts of Euthanasia. Today, many people weep for the nation, as it proclaims with one voice, that death is more desirable than suffering. Update 3/30: some details that I've been collecting over the last week... The claim is that Terri i...

Running along the lake this morning with Chris, I told him I felt like I had let down my fellow runners. The winter of '03-'04, I ran off and on throughout the entire season, enjoying the snow, wind, and cold, wearing whatever gear I needed to, or running as hard as I needed to to maintain a healthy body temperature. Chris and I were continually amused at the drastic decrease of runners over the winter, the following summer asking the masses the rhetorical question, "Where were you a few months ago? Where were you when it was about 70 degrees cooler, when we were getting an agility workout trekking through snow?" Well, this recent winter, I was one of those who disappeared with the arrival of the inclement weather. I think today kinda informally marks my return to the streets and the increased blood flow. On a similar note, I found a "this is so me!" article. I love biking in the city. It's gotta be one of my favorite things to do here, even jus...

Whenever someone famous gets in trouble, that is one of the first things the press focuses on. What do his friends do? Do they support him or do they tell reporters that, unfortunately, they had seen trouble coming for some time? One of the worst things a friend can say is what Peter said. We weren't friends, exactly. Acquaintances might be a better word. Actually, we just worked together. For the same company, I mean. Not together, just near each other. My desk was near his. I really don't know him at all. How do you portray your friends? Who gets to be your friend?

It's late, and I wasn't really planning on posting, but I just got back from my first time @ St. Mike's of Old Town , where I attended a great lecture immediately following their 7pm "contemporary" mass. I thought his name was "Fr. Ted", but it turns out his full name is " Tadeusz Pacholczyk ", Director of Education for the National Catholic Bioethics Center. Apparently he meets regularly with Bush's bioethics people - he mentioned that Bush's point man in this area is a Jew! awesome! er, I mean, Jewish, not a Jew, because apparently using the former term is offensive . He also meets regularly with some of the big dudes in Rome. Anyway, here are some jewels I took away from his lecture: Embryonic stem cells do not heal, there are zero reported cases of healing. Because of their rapid rate of growth in embryos, they form tumors when used in animals, which ultimately kill the animal. Adult stem cells already have a multitude of suc...

So this could be this lengthy post on my insane striving to be independent, simplistic, and non-materialistic, but instead it's just a little status alert about Google's popular blogging service, Blogger . As mentioned on this Known Issues page: Users are currently getting "Blog not found" errors when accessing comment pages. We are working on getting this resolved ASAP. Sorry if you've tried to comment sometime in the last week or so. I was wondering what happened to the hoardes of commentors that I usually have... ;-) Blogger is a pretty cool service, not as dependable as spinning your own service, but conversely, more dependable than spinning your own if you'd prefer not to expect to have a consistent income quite yet in your life...

More about that title in a sec. Fear not. Time for a little update. Three weekends ago, I rode with Theresa down to party with her family near Cincinatti. In the spirit of experiencing new things, I am very proud to add that to the list. Very fun! :) They all have very curious relationships with one another. (I mean, they made me very curious, not that they were curious about each other. They know each other entirely too well.) As so many people find nourishment in their families, at the end of the weekend it was apparent how very much she receives (and gives) from her own, in a pretty unique way. On the drive down, I actually got a bit of sleep, which I rarely get in cars. You should consider it a compliment if I can fall asleep in your presence. Not a sign that you're boring. :) Two weekends ago, I rode with JoeJohn and Sean to go out to Crooked Lake for the weekend. Halfway there, I managed to single-handedly destroy JoeJohn's engine, without hitting a sing...

The Master He who has come to men dwells where we cannot tell      nor sight reveal him, until the hour has struck when the small heart does break      with hunger for him; those who do merit least, those whom no tongue does praise      the first to know him, and on the face of earth the poorest village street blossoming for him. Its Secret Time Out of a difficult and troubled season the timely harvest thrusts amid the stones; the dry mind that would claim a thousand reasons melts beneath the Lord's appointed rain. The furred magnolia buds we bring to warmth here in the heated room soon bloom and sicken; the tree without keeps its own secret time. Powerless are we to move God with our clamor, to seize the least fringe of his mystery; but we must wait until the gift is given and poor, walk faithfully the lanes of heaven. To Jesus, in the Spring Oh, break the chrysalis of doubt, plow up the clods of thick despair, ...

Yesterday I came across a very cool free resource... so you know how designers can find online libraries of fonts as well as high quality, high resolution graphics and photographs? These are usually pay sites. Well check out stock.xchng . Wowsers. Don't be scared off by the required registration... it's all free! Looks like I won't be needing to take a digital camera to any of the tourist traps that I plan on visiting in my lifetime, I can just mooch better pics of said locations from this site! Makes for excellent browsing for awesome desktop background images. It's like Webshots on steroids. It's like discovering Google Maps after having just used MapQuest . (ps- Google Local now offers that map functionality fully integrated ..) Stumbling across that site set my mind rolling on free stuff. I just realized how my professional focus on open source software has been an extension of an interest in free stuff that I had back in high school . (for t...

In being accepting of your friends' choices, despite your own thoughts on the worth of those choices, are you stringing your friends along? Are you holding them back from what they could become? Where do you draw the line on what to say?

Assuming or clueless?

God does not condemn us to Hell; God wishes all humans to be saved. He will love us to all eternity, but there will exist the possibility that we do not accept that love and do not respond to it. And the refusal to accept love, the refusal to respond to it, that precisely is the meaning of Hell. Hell is not a place where God puts us, it's a place where we put ourselves. The doors of Hell, insofar as they have locks, have locks on the inside. - Kallistos Ware