Last Thought of the Year

http://www.thegazette.com/subject/sports/hlas-motley-crue-fans-not-in-tune-with-hawkeyes-20151230

100 Best Albums of 2015

http://www.teamrock.com/features/2015-12-22/the-100-best-albums-of-2015-100-91
http://www.teamrock.com/features/2015-12-23/the-100-best-albums-of-2015-90-81
http://www.teamrock.com/features/2015-12-24/the-100-best-albums-of-2015-80-71
http://www.teamrock.com/features/2015-12-25/the-100-best-albums-of-2015-70-61
http://www.teamrock.com/features/2015-12-26/the-100-best-albums-of-2015-60-51
http://www.teamrock.com/features/2015-12-27/the-100-best-albums-of-2015-50-41
http://www.teamrock.com/features/2015-12-28/the-100-best-albums-of-2015-40-31
http://www.teamrock.com/features/2015-12-29/the-100-best-albums-of-2015-30-21
http://www.teamrock.com/features/2015-12-30/the-100-best-albums-of-2015-20-11
http://www.teamrock.com/features/2015-12-31/the-100-best-albums-of-2015-10-1

The Hellions

Michael Allan & the Hellions is a band based in Des Moines. Really wish they were based in Iowa City.

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Editor's Note - the video in question was removed from youtube.com so it is no longer available for your viewing pleasure.

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Editor's Note - the video in question was removed from youtube.com so it is no longer available for your viewing pleasure.

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Editor's Note: Michael Allan & the Hellions no longer exist (apparently)

Atypical Results Becoming Typical

When I watched the Iowa men's basketball team lose to Iowa State a couple of weeks ago, my confidence in the team was shaken. I freely admit that. Even though the Hawks had built a huge lead and even though Jared Uthoff had 30 points in the first 20 minute, and even though there was a huge halftime lead, I wasn't comfortable. I remember thinking, "This is ISU, this is on their court, and they are a better basketball team than how they have been playing."

Thus, when Iowa went into the locker room after 20 minutes with a huge halftime lead last night, I wasn't comfortable. Even at 9:29 PM, when I sent a text to Brian Rock (Gravel) and the score was Iowa 52, MSU 39, I wasn't comfortable. I've seen MSU blow past more than one team late in the second half. Tom Izzo is one helluva coach and he always always has his players prepared for a game. There's rarely a team that is coached by Izzo that doesn't storm back in the pursuit of a victory.

Finally, though, when the final buzzer went off and victory was achieved, you'd think I would be comfortable.

I'm not.

I looked at their schedule and see that Iowa travels to MSU on Thursday, January 14, 2016. That's 15 days away. MSU's wound from being defeated in Iowa City by Iowa. Per this article, "It was the first Iowa victory over a No. 1 ranked opponent since 1999 (Connecticut) and the first win over the Spartans since 2011. The Hawkeyes had never defeated a top-ranked opponent inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena until now." Their next game is at #14 Purdue on Saturday night. Not to entirely switch gears, but Purdue played one helluva game last night. They defeated Wisconsin in Madison. Wisconsin basketball teams do not get defeated in Madison very often. If Iowa is feeling a high after defeating MSU, which I'm sure they are, Purdue is feeling the same high after their victory. The winner of the game on Saturday will be the team that comes down from the adrenaline and focuses on preparation. I think it will be a very interesting game. If teams like Purdue and Iowa can make a run at teams like MSU and WI and not back down, anything is possible. 

Illegal Means Breaking the Law

There's a comment in the comments section of the article I link to below that I wanted to lead with in this post so here it is:
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People like this do not deserve anything and THEY HAVE NO RIGHTS, they are here ILLEGALLY. It is insane that a court of law does not uphold that.
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What is the context of that statement?

The article, that you haven't read yet, is about how some illegal immigrants are suing Oregon because Oregon will not issue them a driver's license.

Read that again s l o w l y.

While you ponder that statement, let me set the table as far as where I sit on the immigration issue that the United States is confronting. First of all, I don't consider myself anti-immigration. My dad's dad came from Norway. I get that people in other countries want to come to the United States and that they see a better opportunity here than where they are. In other words, I don't care who you are or where you came from - really, I don't - if you want to come to the United States. Where I do care and where I hope all United States citizens care is that if you come into the United States without going through the proper paperwork / process / procedure* - no matter how complicated / un-user friendly it is - you are in this country ILLEGALLY which means you are breaking the law. That is what the comment above is saying in slightly different words.

Logically, then, if you are an illegal immigrant - breaking the law by your mere presence - how is it possible to sue Oregon because the state of Oregon won't issue a driver's license to you. Because you are, remember, here and BREAKING THE LAW in the first place. Yet, that is the situation that is described in this article.

* Do I know anything about what it takes to be a United States citizen? No, I do not. I was born in America so I have never needed to look into what it takes.

Heavy Metal Legend Passes Away - Fans Mourn

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Immortal No More

Mom died a year ago today. A year later, I miss her. I often meditate about death. It never ceases to amaze me how final, how permanent, death is.

I remember sitting with Mom. One minute, she was breathing, and then she wasn't. The challenge for me has been to not allow myself to make Mom's death the all-consuming event in my life - a black hole, if you will - into which all of my energy is sucked into without ever letting go. Of course I miss my Mom and of course I wish she were here.

Below the Radar

I just read about why Lamb of God guitarist Mark Morton won't listen to an aspiring band's demo tape. Apparently, in the past, a band gave LOG a demo and then sued them. Seriously. Read the article here.

Not Necessarily a Fan

I am not a fan of the rap genre. I will listen to the popular songs like "Jump Around" or "Gangster's Paradise" or "I like Big Butts" or "Funky Cold Medina" or "Wild Thing" or a bunch of others I won't take the time to list. I fully admit that I am not an expert about the genre. Part of the reason why is because I don't see the talent displayed as I do when I hear Rush or Pantera or Metallica.

That said, I hope this rapper is able to sing the words that he wrote. Read this article:
High School Rapper Disciplined Over Music Appeals to SCOTUS (Sent from CNR) https://www.readfulapp.com/site/CNR/?tag=News&item=567ef89d717af5967e1f98fb

Bad Design

https://medium.com/hh-design/don-t-blame-steve-harvey-bad-design-caused-the-miss-universe-fiasco-e55d33f4218a#.4jda5zwdk

That THUD You Heard

I never had any intention of going to Pasadena, CA, to see the Iowa Hawkeyes play Stanford in the Rose Bowl. Ever. When it was announced, I thought, "Good for them, not happening." Ticket prices were announced to be $500 / ticket and Iowa fans bought them.

Yesterday, it was pointed out that tickets to that game are now ~$150. Read about it here.

The other thud you heard was the door slamming as the Gazette's copy editor walked out the door prior to proofing a story about the men's basketball team winning last night. That's the only explanation I can give for these two errors shown below. Where is the quotation mark immediately prior to the "I jumped him" sentence? And I think He wanted me to pick it up is what Jok meant and, very likely, actually said. The Rock is the only person I know that speaks in the third-person when referring to himself. 

The Word for the Day Is....

Speculation.

Before I get to that, today is Wednesday, 12/23/2015. Alex has oral surgery at 10:45 so I came in to work @ 6 AM and am working until ~10:30 today. Then I'm off tomorrow (Christmas Eve) and Christmas Day, returning to work on Monday, December 29.

Back to the word for the day. I chose that word because of the two speculative articles I linked to below:

• Google may be replacing Gmail
• Star Trek: Beyond may be better than Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens

Treadmill Set Too Fast and I'm not Going to Run

If I were to attempt to keep up with all the 2016 presidential campaign events and stories, I would need to write this blog full-time. That's not happening. Thus, I'm free to pick out only those events and stories that interest me.

On the Republican side, there's Donald Trump. I can't really see him as president of the country, but I do think a lot of what he says makes sense. No, not the stuff about all Muslims are bad people and that they should be rounded up and shipped out. I like the talk about having a secure border and about having a process by which if you want to come into America, you follow the rules. Period. If you don't follow the process, you can be called "illegal immigrants" and you can be sent back on your dime, not mine. I also think that he gets in trouble with his mouth and says things that are not nice. I think sweeping generalizations are a bad thing and Trump should cease making statements like "all Muslims are bad." Read more about Donald Trump here.

Before moving to the other side of the aisle, I want to write about my personal experience with hearing a specific sweeping generalization and then having that cloud my opinion of people with a specific character trait. For me, it wasn't Muslims. It was heavy metal fans with long hair. Let me explain. When I was in high school, Iron Maiden was playing a concert at the Five Seasons Center (now called the US Cellular Center) in downtown Cedar Rapids. For reasons I don't remember, I was at a (now closed) restaurant called Gringo's across the street with my mother. When she saw all the Iron Maiden concert attendees walking towards the door, she made a negative comment about people with long hair. It was the type of comment that I carried with me and made people with long hair intimidating to me to the extent that I thought they were all mean people. Of course, not every person with long hair is mean. It was easier to follow the intent of what my mother said to me and to make judgments about people than to approach a heavy metal fan with long hair and find out about that person.

On the Democrat side, there's Hillary Clinton. There are websites dedicated to documenting the lies she has told. At the Democratic debate on Saturday night, she apparently tole more, per this article. The other day, I read about how Politifact was debunking another claim she had made about videos of Trump being shown to recruit ISIS members, per this article.

I realize that lying is sometimes a matter of perspective. Ben Kenobi proved this when he explained that when he said that Darth Vader had betrayed and murdered Luke's father, it was true from a certain point of view. I get that. I don't get it when you knowingly say words that you know in your heart are not true. Was there ever really any evidence that a video had caused the Benghazi attack, when she said these words below? What about when she said that it wasn't a video to some people in her emails, which contradicted what she said publicly? Is that lying or is that telling people a portion of what they need to know? I don't have the answers.

Before ending this post with the video of Clinton's speech, I can think of several examples where lying would have benefited me. In all phases of my life, from youth to adulthood, telling a lie instead of the truth may have caused tears to not fall, anger to not explode, friendships to not flourish, better relationships with those around me, and quite frankly, changed the path I have followed in my life. Lies I have told, especially to myself, are the most damaging, especially when my actions followed the path laid out by the lie instead of the truth.

Here's the speech Clinton made.

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Two Notes in One Article in One Post

Before you click the link at the end of this post, here are two notes:

1. In the recap of the Regina boy's basketball game, Tom Rapp & Sam Stein are mentioned. Both of those boys were on first Alex's North Dodge basketball league team. Sometime later, they were recruited to a different team, but I am very proud of their accomplishments for the Regina team.
2. Why is the Iowa Barnstormers posting a video of Patrick McCaffery? I wish the West High School basketball website would post things like this.

Here's the link.

Complete Is The Circle

This is a touching article about how valuable the Star Wars franchise has been to the author. There are no spoilers about Episode VII, which I saw last night with Karen, Alex, Megan, and Cody, in the article as it is a reprint of an article that was published in 2005. Here's the link.

That said, I am not going to write a review of the movie on this blog because I am a coward - I don't want responsibility for spoiling anyone's experience of seeing the movie if they don't want to know what happens. I will be generic and use long flowing statements to capture my opinion of the movie.

Five reactions:

1. I never wanted to blink during the movie. Similar to Leonard, Howard, and Raj in the episode of "The Big Bang Theory" that aired on 12/17/2015, I didn't get any pop or food because, frankly, I didn't want to have to go to the bathroom during the movie. It's that simple. 
2. Prior to the release, there was a lot of apprehension voiced on various websites about JJ Abrams and Disney likely releasing a move that would ruin the franchise. I admit to the same fears, but I can generically say, this movie didn't ruin the franchise. 
3. This movie is much like a love poem, in some aspects, to those Star Wars fans who grew up watching the movies. In 1977, I was in first grade. David Davis lived across the street from me on Red Bud Road in Cedar Rapids and he worked at the Plaza Theater by Lindale Mall. He had a dresser full of comic books and he was my idol. 
4. Karen was a trooper to go with us. She and I watched all of Episode IV and part of VI on Saturday to brush up on her knowledge. As we watched those films, I would pause the movie and tell her things that were important and catch phrases that were said by multiple characters in the original trilogy, like "I've got a bad feeling about this." I gave her a brief synopsis of "The Empire Strikes Back" because we did so much Christmas shopping on Saturday, we simply ran out of time. I also was very conscious of not ruining the franchise for her by cramming a lot of information into her brain. I want her to like the franchise and avoid negative feelings about it.
5. I will go see it again. I don't necessarily think I need to see it in 3D, though I can see where that would be very cool.

I fear if I write more I will write too much.

Acceptance Gives Me

I get a daily email called "Thought for the Day" and today's thought is this:

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Acceptance gives me the experience of being like an angel: never judging, never criticizing and never worrying.

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It's so ironic that I just read those words because I don't do well with accepting things in life. I really don't. I don't accept many decisions I have made, both personally and professionally. In the personal realm, being sober for nearly 5 years - 12/31/2015 is my five year anniversary - is just one example of where I have refused to accept my past behavior and incidents I was involved in as being the way I want to live my life. Because I can choose to drink booze or to not drink booze, the decision to live a sober life is mine alone.

Professionally, though, is a different story. I've made choices in my 20+ years as a technical writer that I wholeheartedly refuse to accept. It would seem that leaving Quintrex, now NISC, can easily creep up to the top of that list. I write that because, in the background of all that is going on in my life, I've learned that Quintrex, now NISC, is looking for a technical writer. I pasted the job description below. This is the company & position I had for a dozen years. Since I left there on 10/15/2010, Quintrex had hired two women - Laura & Kathy - to do my former technical writer duties. Tragically, both of those women have passed away.

I knew this position was going to be posted and I know that even though it states the location is Missouri, I would be considered for this position upon submission of my credentials. In my private journal, I've pondered the idea of submitting my resume for the position below. There was a time in my life, including almost immediately after I left, when knowing I could apply for my former position was all I prayed for. I filled page after page in my private journal with desperate words of my desire to return.

However, the way my career played out, I ultimately did not even have the opportunity to return because, as I mentioned, my replacement(s) had been hired and there was not money for a third technical writer position, if I recall correctly. I went on to be hired at my current employer and tomorrow will actually be 4 years, 6 months, and 3 weeks.

It will also be 5 years, 2 months, 6 days since I worked at Quintrex. I know for a fact that a lot has changed there since I left. I still have friends that work there and I still keep in touch with them. I've heard from them that NISC, the new owner, is a good company, which makes me happy for my former co-workers.

Anyways, this is the current opening and the ball is in my court as far as applying for it or not. I'm honestly 50 / 50, at this point. I like where I am and I like my co-workers immensely. I like the fact that I am able to spend a lot of my time focused on the tools side of technical writing, such as identifying where there are differences in

Position	Technical Writer
Location	Missouri
Primary Responsibilities	This position reports to the QA/Technical Communications Team Lead. Has a high level of internal customer interaction, including all NISC divisions needing written technical communications. Works closely with the Quality Assurance team, as well as with Member Support Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and RDQ developers. This position is responsible for the writing and editing of operation and maintenance documentation for NISC’s software applications, technical systems, and technical publications, as well as other Member-oriented publications.
Disclaimer	Management may modify this job description by assigning or reassigning duties and responsibilities at any time.
Essential Functions	·         Writes new and modifies existing technical documentation and technical publications according to set standards regarding order, clarity, conciseness, style and terminology. ·         Gathers and organizes source materials such as design and test specifications, design diagrams and schematics. ·         Investigates and studies material used through examination of systems, diagrams and interviews. ·         Establishes organization-wide user documentation standards for online and printed documentation. ·         Works with low level of supervision on technical projects or assignments. ·         Works closely with Quality Assurance and SME (Subject Matter Experts) in planning projects and meeting deadlines. ·         Prepares CRs (Change Requests) for developers to complete to adhere to Technical Communications Standards. ·         Completes CRs as assigned by developers, QA or Member Support. ·         Utilizes all technical development tools as directed, including the repository, StarTeam, Subversion, iSupport, Caliber, as well as various other tools when deemed necessary. ·         Writes other Member-oriented publications, such as brochures, release notes, web pages, newsletters, training documents, job aids, etc. ·         Answers basic questions regarding application screens and processes responsible for documenting. ·         Develops web-based training modules following established standards and processes. ·         Follows standard practices to resolve moderate to complex problems. ·         May be required to travel. ·         May be required to attend training seminars online, internally or at various external locations. ·         May be required to participate on design review boards and change review boards regarding enhancements to technical documentation. ·         Prepares weekly status reports for Team Lead as well as attends weekly technical communications status meetings.
Minimum Physical Requirements	The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Employees must be able to see, speak, and hear, to operate computer keyboards or office equipment, and are required to stand, walk, and sit.
Desired Education	Bachelor’s degree in a related field such as English, Journalism, Communications or Computer Science or equivalent experience.
Desired Job Experience	·         Generally requires 3 to 5 years of technical writing experience either at NISC or at another company in a technical writing profession. ·         Excellent writing and proofreading skills with strengths in grammar, punctuation and spelling. ·         Working knowledge of NISC’s applications. ·         Working knowledge of other integrated applications and services. ·         Strong verbal and written interpersonal and communication skills. ·         Strong research and problem solving skills with a good attention to detail. ·         Ability to organize and prioritize a large volume of work. ·         Strong PC skills including a working knowledge of Microsoft Word. ·         Working knowledge of Macromedia software including RoboHelp and RoboDemo. ·         Working knowledge of writing using HTML code. ·         Working knowledge of capturing and inserting graphics into documentation. ·         Ability to interact in a positive manner with internal and external customers. ·         Ability to work in a team environment. ·         Knowledge of the Rural Electric industry. ·         Ability to travel as necessary. ·         Commitment to NISC’s Statement of Shared Values.
Certifications Required	None
Other Qualifications	None

Spoiled SW

Ignore the link at the end of this sentence if you do not want to see a link to a review of Episode VII that includes spoilers - link.

Clever Hype

I think this interview with Lex Luthor is absolutely brilliant marketing. Why? Lex Luthor doesn't exist - he is a character in the DC Universe. As the countdown to the release of the Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice movie continues on the road to March 18, 2016, it makes a lot of sense to begin the hype. Read the interview here.

Returned

It wasn't long after I got home from work that Megan walked through the door. She is home from UNI from now until January 10 - roughly, 25 days - for her winter break. She resumes classes on Monday, January 11, 2016, and in a bizarre scheduling decision, it is a week prior to the U of I returns to classes - no comment about when ISU returns to classes. It is really awesome to have her back at home. We ate chicken cordon blue, baked potato, and corn for supper.

After supper, we left for Alex's band concert at West High. For unexplained reasons, Alex only played a percussion part during one of four songs. As I watched him play bass drum on a march, I was taken back in my mind to third period band when, as a seventh grader at Harding Junior High (now Harding Middle School) in Cedar Rapids, I was playing bass drum on "The Bugler's March" and, for the life of me, I couldn't keep up with the conductor's tempo. The conductor, Max Northrup, smelled like cigarettes when he left the podium and came back to take over playing bass drum for me. He quipped, "You're like a cat's tail - always behind." After 30+ years - seventh grade was 1984 - that incident and that song - "Bugler's March" - are probably forever etched in my memory. It's funny how certain events in life never leave my mind. When I was cleaning the den and my collection of drum music, I don't recall seeing that piece of music. A quick online search yielded no promising results. At least, for today, I have my memories.

I will wrap up this post by saying that I had to work damn hard to be a good drummer. At the time, there was band in third period & fourth period. Unless you were totally awesome, you entered seventh grade with third period and then, as an 8th grader, you were generally moved up to fourth period. I began 8th grade in third period band. I don't know why, but Tim DeKlerk threw peanuts at Mr. Northrup and got kicked out of band, which opened a spot for me to move to fourth period at the end of the first semester. It was a big deal, to me, because my parents had promised that if I was in fourth period band, they would buy me a set of drums. Of course, I held them to that. The set of drums they purchased for me is the only set of drums I've ever owned and are downstairs in the basement, in the furnace storage room, awaiting the next time I have the opportunity to jam with other musicians.

I am hopeful that happens prior to the end of 2016.

Subject: Holiday Decorations Guidelines

This email - with the subject "Holiday Decorations Guidelines" just arrived. It makes me chuckle and maybe it will make you chuckle as well. My comments are in bold/italic below.

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It's that time of year again - the holiday and winter seasons are rapidly approaching. We want to remind you of a few housekeeping and holiday decoration rules for .... facilities:

• Decorations for holidays and other events must be confined to workstations/offices. Electrical decorations such as Christmas lights are prohibited.
• Decorations must not obstruct aisles, doorways, emergency exits or life safety devices such as fire extinguishers.
• Use of space heaters is prohibited.
• How is this a holiday decoration guideline? 
• Wear proper footwear and be mindful of Iowa Winter conditions.
• How is this a holiday decoration guideline?
• Drive appropriately for winter driving conditions to help ensure that you arrive to your destination safely.
• How is this a holiday decoration guideline?

We wish everyone a safe winter and holiday season!!

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Introducing Chaos

How do you introduce the chaos that is the heavy metal band GWAR to a 17 year-old?

Let me back up.

Last night, in a rare display of showing interest in me, Alex entered the den. He had his cell phone or iPod and was talking to me about his favorite new band, Bring Me the Horizon. He played a song for me and was expecting me to like it. Parts of it were okay, but most of it was, eh, I could live without hearing again (which is why I'm not embedding it below).

Then it was my turn to have him listen to some thing. I told him about my latest discovery, the AV Club. I embedded the cover of "Say Say Say" just yesterday but I knew if I started out with having him listen to that, it wouldn't make sense to him. Instead, I introduced the concept of a band covering another band by jumping ahead to this spot in the original Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney version here, before having him listen to a sample of the Wild Throne cover here.

That led into sampling the Barenaked Ladies version of Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" here, Bela Fleck & Abigail Washburn covering Europe's "The Final Countdown" here before I introduced him to utter chaos - the band called GWAR - and their cover of Kansas' "Carry on Wayward Son" as shown below.

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BINGO!! I struck gold! The rest of the time we spent together in the den involved watching the video below:

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which was then followed by watching bits and pieces - not the entire 90 minutes - of this video:

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Alex immediately began sending Snapchat messages to his buddy Austin to freak him out. It was almost like he had discovered an entire new world - perhaps similar to the first time an usher in our wedding led me into his father's den and showed me his father's Playboy collection. Alex was having the same type of reaction, immediately wanting to see and learn more.

We also had to go out to the GWAR website to view if there were any upcoming tour dates. There are none, except New Year's Eve and, emphatically, Alex is not going. Perhaps against my better judgment, I did mention to Alex that I had some GWAR DVDs and that I had never watched them.

I am hopeful that I have not unleashed a monster.

Devastating

While I've not been as big of a fan as Rick, the guy who lived down the hall from me on second floor in Regina at Mount Mercy College, I've been a Poison fan for years. Back in high school, Serbi and I would cruise First Avenue in Cedar Rapids as we listened to their debut release, Look What the Cat Dragged In, singing along to their tales of fast living. Today, it's been revealed that Poison's drummer, Rikki Rockett, has oral cancer. You can read about it here.

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Better with 12 Monkeys

During a conversation with my rowmates at work - Matthew, Carol, and Janet - I severely butchered the joke about the monkeys in a room with a banana that no one eats. So I don't forget the details of the joke in the future, here's the link.

At Least 555 Children Killed by Guns in US Since Newtown

I can't believe anyone that has control of their thoughts and actions in this world believes children should be killed by guns. I consider gun control one of those issues where I differ from the Republican party in that I don't believe limiting access to a machine gun is a bad idea. I don't think machine guns should be banned outright. There is no purpose for having one, except murder. Yet, here we are, on the anniversary of a shooting at a school in Newtown, with an article that stunningly points out 555 children under the age of 12 have been buried in the last 3 years.

I don't have a solution for bad people have a gun and then using it to do bad things. Personally, I don't own a gun. I grew up in a household where there was a gun case in our family room - a very nice piece of furniture - and I knew there were bullets for it in the built-in cabinet. I never had a desire to learn how to shoot a gun; I can only remember going to a shooting range one time in my life.

While 555 children dying is horrific, I feel inadequate when I think about it. I can't begin to understand the pain at least 1110 (555 x at least 2 parents - which doesn't account for step-parents and other family situations) parents have gone through as they buried a child. I hope I never have to go through that in my life. I would be beyond devastated. These stunningly awful stats are alarming, as described in this article.

Say Say Say... WTF?!?

I make it a point to not use F-bombs on this blog. I really REALLY want to scream, "Just what the ---- is going on with this song!?!?"

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Violations and Rules and Infractions of Both

I've tried several drafts of this post about the video where a Catholic priest distributes Communion at an Episcopalian church and I have promised myself that whatever comes out through my fingers as a first draft will be what I post so that would be different from previous drafts that were "cut" from my text editor and then replaced with a different version of the same idea - I don't like that it is against the rules that Christ's followers have splintered into different factions. Since Episode VII is on the horizon, it's like religion has to follow absolutes - you are either a member of _____ or you're not and (sometimes) being a "not" means that you are automatically assumed to be against that religion. At Mass today, Father Page talked about how we are in a Jubilee year and that there have only been 29 jubilees in 700 years so this is a big deal in our church. It's very likely that my grandchildren won't have a jubilee in their lifetime - and yes, I'm shuddering about the thought of being a grandfather before 2025.

Back to the subject of this post.

Please.

I think the comment on the page that has the video below says it best: "Jesus wasn't Catholic." My hope is that - somehow - all of Christ's followers find their way to a single set of beliefs. That said, it reminds me of a joke I heard at NCYC.

"How many Catholics does it take to change a light bulb?"
"Change?"

Or, the alternate version:
"How many Catholics does it take to change a light bulb?"
"None - we use candles."

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