Blog

Being without Internet access for three days has made me think about how much I go online... Perhaps a 3-day retreat from any online activity every month (or, heck, every week!) should be madated; it makes you realize that you have a few more hours of free time on your hands during the day, which is a great blessing (at least, for me).

Since Saturday night, the Internet's been down at the Seminary, after there was a massive line of storms training on the St. Louis area (our power was knocked out around 8 p.m. that night, until Sunday morning, right in time for Mass). The Kenrick-Glennon Days summer camps hosted by the St. Louis Office of Vocations have been a great success so far, as has the video I've worked on for the past two weeks feverishly (I'll be posting it online very soon).

The Office of Vocations is also hosting 'Christpower' in a week's time. Christpower is a service retreat for highschoolers who are interested in not only helping the community, but also getting to know themselves and their own vocation more intimately.

There is a new podcast from the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites and the Nuns at the Carmel of St. Joseph in St. Louis, Missouri, which teaches (through weekly episodes) Carmelite spirituality through short (2-5 minute) meditations from Carmelite saints. The podcasts are great for quick meditations, and I was especially glad to see the website and podcast were made and maintained using iWeb and GarageBand (the site is hosted on .Mac, as this blog is)!

Here is their press release:

Celebrating the greatness of the Holy Spirit on this holy feast day of Pentecost, the Order of Carmel Discalced Secular in St. Louis, Missouri invite you to the launch of their new website and downloadable Podcast!

"Crouching Squirrel, Hidden Dragon"

Think you can do better? Post your title in the comments below.

This squirrel puzzles me; first he had his stint as the 'Evil Squirrel' who ate all our birdseed and broke two birdfeeders (we have won for now, though, using some duct tape and a gallon milk carton jug to keep him off the feeder...). But he's now crouching on the ground and 'sneaking' around while doing so. I've never seen this sort of behavior before!

Well, it's been quite a while since my last posting... I haven't had too much time since then to work on many things like my blog, as I am preparing for the Seminary's upcoming Kenrick-Glennon Days summer camp for young men who have some interest in the priesthood. I'm working on a special few videos for the camp that we will be playing for introductions, and these videos have taken a lot of my spare time!

I recently attended the Rosary Crusade prayer service (with Eucharistic Adoration, a Rosary led by the Archbishop, and Benediction) at the Old Cathedral, and I am now posting the information concerning the crusade (from the Rosary Crusade website) so you, too, can join in the effort to safeguard embryonic life in Missouri!

"Archbishop Raymond L. Burke of the Archdiocese of St. Louis launched a Rosary Crusade on May 9, 2006, to safeguard embryonic human life and prevent human cloning. The need for the Crusade in Missouri is heightened because of a proposed state constitutional amendment that will permit the use of public funds and guarantee scientists the constitutional right to clone human beings and destroy tiny human embryos for research purposes. The research in view violates both the sanctity and the dignity of human life.

I've been playing around with a cool little app from Apple called 'Dashcode,' and I've made a small counter widget that will count down the days left until Microsoft will (supposedly) release their next-generation operating system, Vista [wikipedia.org]... however, I suspect I will need to update this widget with new times, as Microsoft has been known to delay their recent product releases time and again (Vista, which used to be code-named 'Longhorn,' was originally supposed to be released in 2004... then 2005... then 2006... now 2007...).

Download and install this widget (requires Mac OS 10.4 or later).