Miscellaneous Rambling
The skies around Alpena were incessantly filled with the buzz of fighter jets, presumably coming from the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center. I've been vacationing in the same spot for 48 years and I never recall hearing so much activity, even in the summers leading up to the Iraqi wars. An occasional jet, yes, but these were multiple jets and incessant. I asked locals about it, and they confirmed that it's never been this bad before. Combine this with Madeleine Albright's observation yesterday, "To put it mildly, the world is a mess." You can reach your own speculative conclusions, but I'm concerned, especially since I lean far more heavily toward the peace position of our recent Popes than I did, say, 15 years ago. * * * * * * * Notwithstanding my moral objections to war, I support our troops. They're no more to blame for the wars than I am, and they're the ones bearing the brunt of the violence (heck, I'm not even inconvenienced by the fighting and, I suspect, my standard of living is higher because of it). That's why I think this commercial is pretty neat (even thought I detest Guinness). * * * * * * * Interesting health development: My knees have been bothering me for the past year or so, especially walking down steps. The mild pain had gotten so routine, I was used to stepping down gingerly and expecting pain. Then while on vacation, I attended three Masses and none of my spots had kneelers, so I had to kneel on the floor. It was uncomfortable, but I noticed right after kneeling that my knee pain disappeared and going down steps didn't bother me much at all. I'm now not using kneelers at church and am kneeling at home on days I don't go to church. I'll see if my knees continue to improve, though I can't imagine why a practice that would seem to damage my knees is, instead, helping them. * * * * * * * Coming up: Sales-Tax-Free Weekends. Go here to get details and see if your state participates (Michigan doesn't).
