You know the muffin man? He's here!

This is what I heard SamP say yesterday, as I was under the time pressure of a chess clock, playing TS with Leroy.

I ignored him, no no avail.

Finally, I went outside to be greeted by some guy standing next to a bread truck, trying to sell me bread out of the back of his truck (a' la The Chicken Man). "No Thanks," I tell him, and start to shut the door.

Turns out, he's a neighbor with his own business, trying to GIVE me about 300 buns for a block party we're planning this weekend. Talk about putting your foot in your mouth! [Picture above is the actual buns, currently sitting in my entryway]

General Intercessions for May 26th and 27th, Pentecost Sunday

That, following the example of the Virgin Mary, all Christians should allow themselves to be guided by the Word of God and always remain attentive to the signs of the Lord in his own life, we pray to the Lord:

That the leaders of all nations work for peace in and outside their borders, we pray to the Lord:

That those who have died to protect our freedoms be remembered with love, we pray to the Lord:

That those who labor in dangerous jobs be embraced by the protecting arms of God, we pray to the Lord:

That those in our diocese who feel the call to the religious life be supported by their families, we pray to the Lord:

That the parishioners of Our Lady of Lourdes allow the Holy Spirit to flow through them to the rest of the world, we pray to the Lord:

Memorial Day weekend, a redux

Memorial Day weekend, a redux (whatever that means):

1. Three cookouts (two hosted, one attended - at John and Jill's),
2. two Masses (one at OLL, and one today at the cemetery with SamA),
3. one Birthday party attended (by Molly - Drew's),
4. one sleepover held,
5. two kittens adopted (bringing the total to five cats...which, if you're counting you'll notice should be six but one died recently in an accident),
6. two games of Twilight Struggle played (the second one took 90 minutes to go one turn),
7. ten games of Werewolf played (eight won).

That's all I can think of at the moment.

Thank you for your attention.

Triggering nuclear war accidentally

I bought a game called "Twilight Struggle" - it's been called a "masterpiece" on the 'geek, and I really like it so far (having played Leroy yesterday for FOUR HOURS to get through FOUR of TEN turns).

I did actually lose by triggering nuclear war accidentally at the 2 hour mark (which move was allowed to be "taken back"), and then I achieved an automatic victory by getting 20 Victory Points at the 3 hour mark (on turn three, at which point we decided to reset the VP counter to 0 since we had another hour free).

BEATEN PRACTICALLY TO DEATH

Courtney writes today:

I spent $67 to fill up my tank yesterday at $3.59. Last night, I dreamt that I found it for 2.89 a gallon and I was really excited! Then I woke up. I don’t normally dream about gas prices. In fact, that was a first for me.

I went on a 7 mile bike ride (my first) on the Pleasant Run Trail Tuesday. Despite the obscenity –yelling thugs and sickening smell of the gas plant, it was a nice ride. I might try the Monon next time.

Note that some guy was BEATEN PRACTICALLY TO DEATH (and not the first time) on the Monon awhile back, so I wouldn't be TOO keen on that idear.

Full text, for when that link breaks:

Victim can't recall near fatal Monon trail attack

Oct 13, 2006 09:48 AM

Darrell Arthur

Arthur was beaten and left for dead at this site.

Arthur was attacked while riding on the Monon.

HEADLINES

Linsey Davis/Eyewitness News

Indianapolis - His head is stapled closed. His face still shows the wounds that left it bloodied and bruised. He also has broken bones. But it was Darrell Arthur who, despite his wounds, was feeling sorry for his attackers.

He spoke from his hospital bed. "I feel sorry for people who do things like this. I mean I help everybody who I possibly can."

In the name of help, Arthur took the time to give a hand to a little boy having bike trouble on the Monon Friday night. He then cut grass for a friend of his. On his way back home, the help that Darrell is known for giving he so desperately needed himself.

"I kept saying to myself 'I'll be home in ten minutes' and then, at that point, I don't remember what happened."

Darrell says the last thing he remembers is riding his bike along a stretch of the Monon near 33rd Street and Sutherland Avenue, but then his ride abruptly stopped. Police say he was then beaten, robbed and left for dead.

He continued his story. "Apparently they tried to hide me so the Police Department wouldn't find me. There were baskets and buckets and an oil stained cloth and I was down underneath all the stuff."

No more space remains along the window sill in Darrell's hospital room. It's now crowded with flowers from some of the people Darrell's helped. The attached cards come from both from the Damien Center, which he helped to start, and Lawrence Central, where he worked in the Special Ed department. Now it's Darrell who's asking for help.

"I hope people are able to help you find out what happened to me. Because I don't know what happened to me and I think that's what makes it so scary."

Darrell is now in fair condition at Methodist Hospital. Fortunately, someone passing by saw him alongside the trail and called for help. Yet, at this time, no witnesses to the attack have come forward. If you have any information about this case, call Crimestoppers at 262-TIPS.

DVR to VCR for the 'Rents-in-Lar

Busy, busy, busy...blogging at 11p. Copying from DVR to VCR for the 'Rents-in-Lar.

What we've been doing lately:

Molly and Maddie "bridged" to the next levels of Girl Scouts today (you bridge from Daisy to Brownie to Cadet...I don't know where you go after that). Court was in charge of some major part of it, and we bought helium baloons (green) today, along with a organizing a butt-load (just 18 x 10 or so) patches that they end up ironing onto their uniforms.

Molly won her soccer game on Thursday (I think).

I wrote the General Intercessions for our Parish this weekend. I'll put them at the end of this post, in case you care what they were. I cheated and copied most of them from a book.

A couple we know is getting a divorce. It happens a lot, but it really bothers me. I guess I just imagine that if they tried hard enough, or asked for enough help, or prayed long enough, or waited long enough, or whatever "enough" that it could be worked out.

They have children (that's always the first thing people ask). In my (limited) experience, people get divorced for selfish reasons.


Here are the intercessions:

General Intercessions for May 19^th and 20^th, The Ascension of the Lord

That, following the example of the Virgin Mary, all Christians should allow themselves to be guided by the Word of God and always remain attentive to the signs of the Lord in his own life, we pray to the Lord:

That the leaders of all nations recognize the sanctity of each human life, from conception to natural death, we pray to the Lord:

That those suffering from addiction allow the Holy Spirit to fill the hole in their hearts with the love of God, we pray to the Lord:

That new graduates recognize the hand of God in their accomplishments, we pray to the Lord:

That all who eat at this table, especially those with unseen burdens, find strength and love in this Eucharistic community, we pray to the Lord:

Kelley and I both yucked it.

For our SEVENTEENTH wedding anniversary (coffee, in case you thought it was diamonds or something), I got Courtney a subscription to Gavalia-of-the-month-coffee. She didn't like it. What I mean is - she was appropriately appreciative...it was the taste of the coffee she didn't like. And she wasn't alone.

Kelley and I both yucked it.

So, today I called to cancel the program.

He talked me in to buying Espresso instead. It'll arrive 6/15, and my credit card will be charged.

The President is in 2nd grade

Sweet success...I've now got two DVRs daisy-chained together, both seemingly working (via some sort of hot-wired IR dongle-thingy). And I didn't even need to call up tech support. If ever a wiz a wiz there was, I am that wiz.

I don't really need two DVRs, but the one only costs like $5 a month, and it isn't broken now, so I'm hard pressed to break it to save $60 a year.

In other news, we are having A BLOCK PARTY on 6/2. I just passed out all the fliers to our neighbors (except our next-door ones, since I ran out due to poor planning on Courtney's fault).

Courtney invited someone NOT ON OUR BLOCK (who is related to someone on our block), which made me mad...but I got over it (and of course it allowed me to convince her to be inclusive rather than exclusive anyway and just invite people within walking distance who we know).

In chess club, we elected a new slate of officers. I think the President is in 2nd grade.

A couple Thursdays ago, I went up to Noblesville and played in a mini tournament with five other players. I lost every game, including one to the top-ranked player IN THE STATE. Based on my performance, I was awarded a ranking of 841P5 (Quick).

The P5 means "based on 5 games", the (Quick) means that we had less than 30 minutes each to finish our games (it was 10 minutes). The top-ranked player kicked my butt in about 3 minutes flat.

I'm such a soft touch

I'm such a soft touch...I called to cancel my Tivo service (for one of the two boxes), and they convinced me not to.

Here are my reasons to cancel:

1. The box is broken, and
2. It won't work with our new cable set up.

Anyway, the guy was pretty technically savvy, and had a lot of power (to waive fees, send me free stuff (including another box), etc., etc.). He convinced me that:

1. It was not broken (or it could be fixed), and
2. It will work with our new cable set up.

Cybercrimes unit for Indy

Maddie is still taking her hip-hop classes (with Sam). Her recital is sometime in June. She already has her costume.

A starbucks opened today (for a few hours) in our neighborhood. They were giving away free coffees and had live music while the other local coffee shop (Lazy Daze) was doing basically the same thing.

Due to a couple teenage girl pranksters sending anonymous e-mails, our school had a speaker (FBI special agent Steve Kelley, who's in charge of the cybercrimes unit for Indy). I went to it on Tuesday, and it was pretty interesting. One thing I learned: only 4% of the baddies pretend to be kids...most only reduce their age a bit. It basically means that they are seducing children who have self-esteem issues (and are attracted to older men).

My Undying Loyalty

From last Saturday: $7,000 later, my speedway card has finally paid off - I was awarded 3 donuts. I was so excited. To be fair, I was also awarded a cup of coffee awhile back. So, for my undying loyalty, I've gotten about a .1% discount. THANKS, SPEEDWAY!

I heard an interesting talk on Monday by Matthew Kelley (an Australian who's written 10+ books and talked to over 3 million people). He asked what is "defining" our culture. His argument is that it's consumerism. Coke is "the real thing". Christians has always been counter-cultural. Nothing new, but he was a good speaker (passionate, funny, and had a lot of good examples).

Right now, I'm watching Molly play soccer (YMCA) as I write this (which makes her mad - but she's back guarding the goal and I do pay attention when the ball's in her area). They won 7-0.

My Safarin' Brother

Ya'al l know Kerry, my bro? He just got a one-year job as a teacher for some rich religious-studies undergrads who will be traveling around the world, studying religions from the practitioners themselves.

Straight from the horse's mouth, as it were.