I have a couple of rough days ahead, but I'm taking off Friday, three of my kids will be gone for the Memorial Day Weekend (three days with their grandparents), and I plan to have plenty of leisure. Just give me strength to get through these next four days!
A Monday Morning mini-rant:
Why does every spinster, widow, widower, and drove-myself teenager want to sit in an unoccupied pew? Would it kill them to sit at the opposite end of a pew that has another person sitting at the other end? Would it cramp their style to take the middle of a pew, thereby allowing (here I'm waxing Utopian) three single unrelated persons to sit in the same pew: one at the inside aisle, one in the middle, and one on the outside aisle, all with a safe four feet between them and the next carcass?
My family needs an entire pew to itself. If we can't get one, we have to separate and sit in different parts of the church. It's not the end of the world, but it's frustrating when you see ten pews with only one or two people sitting in them. If the Church wants to encourage large families and their attendance at Mass, it'd be great if priests would coax their congregations to make it feasible for them to sit together.
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Funny, non-damaging, and poignant prank: The Little Mermaid statue in Denmark's capital was found draped in a Muslim dress and head scarf Sunday morning.
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It takes on something of fan-like irrationality after awhile:
First it was his world history class. Then he saw it in his economics class. And his world issues class. And his environment class. In total, 18-year-old McKenzie, a Northern Ontario high schooler, says he has had the film An Inconvenient Truth shown to him by four different teachers this year.
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Interesting article about $85 computers. Excerpt:
One reason that a machine like the decTOP can meet the needs of so many users is that the basic functions that Sowah lists are increasingly rolled together into a single, online package. Web services like Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) Apps, which allows users to edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations online, take the workload off an individual's machine and put it instead on Google's massive servers. Data is stored and numbers are crunched online; the user's machine need only be a window to the increasingly powerful Web.
The machine has its drawbacks (limited memory and no monitor, for starters), but I'm intrigued.
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If you're a Catholic male and you haven't subscribed to Catholic Men's Quarterly yet, you should. It's inexpensive and an enjoyable read, geared specifically to . . . Catholic men. It makes a good Father's Day gift, too, and right now they have a special offer. From a press release:
Catholic Men's Quarterly, a one-of-a-kind magazine for Catholic men, is celebrating the completion of its third year by offering a free autographed kid's book to anyone who subscribes to the magazine online at www.houseonthemoor.com between now and Father's Day. . . The free book, The Wearing of the Glove, is a classic-style adventure tale about a ragtag group of adventurers determined to restore the rightful faith and government to their land.
I can't vouch for the book, but I've ordered a copy. Go here to subscribe to CMQ. It's only $20 a year. I know guys who spend more than that every year on underwear (I don't hang out with those kind of guys, but they exist).
