Saturdays

Lawns are mowed, To Do's are done, houses cleaned and kids shuttled around. Baseball is played, parties are attended, video games are conquered and toys are lost.

Skins are burned, pools are dipped, bikes are ridden and leftovers are served. Naps are induldged, official bed times ignored, sleepovers are slept in and friendships engaged.

Date nights are planned, movies are watched, memories recalled and a future is planned.

And these are just some of the great things about Saturdays.

Predictor Pete - Week Two

The Bucs held on to beat the Vikings last week in a surprising road win. This week, the Bucs have their season home opener against the Buffalo Bills, who beat the Houston Texans 22-7.

The Bills have a second-year quaterback, Losman, who was named the starter this year... a first in his career. The Bucs have a strong history against new quarterbacks and I expect the defense to throw in some schemes to confuse him. If they can keep the Bills running game in check, the Bucs should win.

My Heart: Bucs 21-10.
My Mind: Bucs 17-6.
My Colon: Bills 14-13.

My Pick: Bucs 20-13... The Bills have a pretty good defense, but I can't go against the Bucs on their home opener of the season.

My Record: 1 - 0.

Musical Pews

What is the role of music in the mass? What type of music is "appropriate?" Some think that Gregorian chants are the ideal musical accent. Others feel something more modern, more mainstream would hold a greater effect.

My wife fulfilled a life long dream and began singing in the Life Teen Band at our church. The music is pop/rock in nature and the band does an excellent job of incorporating that style of music with the reverance required in a mass. Every week the attendance at this mass has grown and last week it was near capacity.

But is that type of music appropriate?

In my opinion, all music is topical or "new" at some point. The first time some Gregorian monks got together and hummed a divine diddy, it was new and different. Granted, some music instills a more harmonious experience for most, but, in the end, does that necessarily make it better than other music. Is not the mass really a celebration? Should the music reflect that?

I remember in high school when the metal band Stryper first came out... it was great... a metal band singing about Jesus. What could be better? However, Stryper was eventually undone by the continued criticism within their own faith... not understanding that they were addressing their music to the people that needed to hear The Word the most.

Wasn't it David who said singing is like praying twice? How did David sing the Psalms? Is that the "right way?"

At the end of the day, if the music inspires the heart, moves the spirit, is both divine and reverant, can it not be entertaining as well? As long as it does not distract the focus of the mass on the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Word, isn't that acceptable?

Musical tastes are unique for each individual. But, if the growing attendance at the Life Teen mass is any indication, this latest flavor of music is the right choice for our growing Catholic youth.

Bill Clinton - The Immoral Moralist

While visiting China on September 11th, former President and intern lover Bill Clinton stated "I think it should be a cautionary tale for Americans, for Chinese, for people all across the world to remember what really caused this horrible act is that these people became gripped with the madness of believing that they were so right and the rest of us were so wrong that they could kill totally innocent people in pursuit of their political objectives."

Bill's biggest mistake is speaking on moral beliefs in the first place. He should really stay with subject matters for which he has some basic understanding. His second mistake is equating religious belief with a "political objective." Bill, terrorists aren't trying to win an election, they want us dead because they see us unholy, evil and worthy of their wrath. Do I agree with them? Not even close, but Bill, some people believe in things to the point that they are willing to die for them. If I equate you with Satan, no amount of focus groups, political correctness or multi-cultural education is going to change the fact that I think you're Satan. If its a religious belief, then the change must come from within the religion, not from an exterior, political stance. Its like fighting a naval battle with tanks... wrong weapons for the wrong battle.

Clinton continued further in his speech to dismiss the concept of an absolute truth. As a Catholic, I was offended by that dismissal. My faith is based on some absolute truths. All faiths are... these truths are not up for discussion or reinterpretation... some things are just morally wrong.

Unfortunately for Poor Ol' Bill, he's never believed in anything. He lives in a world without right and wrong, but of legal and illegal, of what you can get away with and what you can't. Its so transparent that he is incapable of comprehending a world where someone could believe in something so much that they would sacrifice their life for it. Such as God. Or your country. Or your family. Lets take a look at Clinton's record on these examples:

• God... sure, he visits churches during campaigning, states he's a believer, yet openly desecrates the sacremental vows of marriage by justifying infidelity. When faced with the sacriment of marriage, the man can't keep his fly zipped up.
• Country... This coming from a man who avoided Vietnam by going to England and then speaking out against the war. Enough said.
• Family.... Here's a man who justified cheating on his wife by having "non-sex" sex with an intern. Its obvious he only believes in himself and I don't know of anyone who would die for him... wait a minute, there are some Secret Service that would bite the bullet for the horny old man, but that's part of their job description.

In the future, I wish former President Clinton would excuse himself from speaking on faith, morals or values. He sounds like a blind man speaking on painted works of art. Leave the moral discussion to those who have them, Bill.

Mortality

This year there have been three funerals of people I know. It has forced me to revisit my mortality. As I have looked upon the coffins of my friends and family, I am forced to wonder how long before I end up there as well.

The one constant in life is that every living thing dies.

It made me realize how fervently our society avoids the inevitability of death. It is as if we are all a bunch of non-swimmers restfully picnicing on a beach while a massive tidal wave slowly approaches. Perhaps if we spent more time accepting the natural process of death, we would spend more effort in securing our place after we leave this planet. Instead, we blissfully ignore the ticking clock within all of us, certain that we will somehow know or control when the second hand stops moving.

I don't so much fear death as I don't want to miss my family's lives. I want to grow old with my wife, holding her hand in mine. I want to see my children grow and see their joy when they hold their own children for the first time. And, personally, I just want to feel like I've made a difference. Like my existence was important or memorable, even if only to God.

Yesterday I attended a beautiful service. It was touching and full of love and grace and acceptance and divine hope. It was a celebration of one's life, not the pain of one's death. And that's the way we should all approach the inevitable moment when we are called to leave here... with appreciation and joy and the certainty that we will all be together again... someday.

Monday Morning QB - 9/12

I'm wearing my cup and sweating like a Banshee... that's right, its football season! Every Monday, during the football season, I'll give my two cents on how the Bucs did this week.

The season opened with the Bucs taking on the Minnesota Vikings in the Metrodome. Minnesota is one of the sexy picks for making the NFL playoffs and, potentially, making it to the Super Bowl. The Bucs... well, no one thinks they'll do much of anything.

My prediction: Bucs 21, Vikes 17

Score: Bucs 24, Vikes 13

Overall, I feel lucky we won the game. It was a penalty filled, ugly win. But, at the end of the day, 1-0 is much better than 0-1.

Offense: C. Flashes of competence, but unable to put the other team away. Griese has to stop giving away points. Nice to see Cadillac break on to win the game. Only score 10 points off of 5 turnovers. Unacceptable. O Line needs to establish running game more effectively.

Defense: B+. Agressive and dominating. Made it closer than it should have been with bad penalities and unable to stop 3rd and Longs in the 3rd quarter.

Special Teams: B. Punting was very good. Kickoffs were very good. Coverage and tackling, excellent. No missed field goals.

Coaching: B. Dropped passes, bad penalties on both sides of the ball and turnovers by the offense limited the effectiveness of both the Offense and Defensive coaches.

Outstanding Players: Cadillac. A. Smith. Hovan. McFarland. Rice. Kelley.

Things That Drove Me Nuts: The Bucs inability to put the Vikes away. It almost cost them the game. Team needs the skill, discipline and a killer instinct.

Bucs Record: 1-0.

Next Opponent: Next week, the Bucs have their home opener agains the Buffalo Bills, who beat the Texans this week.

An ugly win, but I'll take it. Thank God for the defense.

9/11... Still at War

On this day, I offer prayers to the families of all of those impacted by the tragic events of September 11, 2001. In four short years, this terrible day has reshapen our countries path down a difficult, but necessary road.

The one thing we should never forget is that there are still a lot of people who would kill you, your family and all of your friends, without a second thought, simply because you are an American.

Until that threat is defeated, we will continue to be at War. It is a Holy War for our enemies. Unless it becomes a Holy War for us, they will have the advantage. In an increasingly secular society, I don't know if we have to moral clarity to all understand the sacrifice required to win a Holy War.

For the time being, we're left just being at War.

Life... On-Demand

The way our technology is growing by leaps and bounds, I can only imagine what world will be like for my children. Its funny how badly we predict the future... if you watch movie serials from the the 30s, we were supposed to be flying around in biplanes. If you watch Back To The Future 2, by 2015 we are flying around in cars.

But the technological changes never seem to be as visually dramatic as all that... in life they often appear more subtle. My car is still firmly limited by gravity, but when you see how technilogical advances have moved medicine forward, its quite amazing. As someone who benefits from hi-tech medicine, I can appreciate just how far we've come. Just ten years ago, the internet was just starting. Now, its tied into our lives, like a virtual spinal cord, transmitting our impulses around the world.

Technology has opened the pandoras box of cloning, suddenly thrusting the moral consequences of the definition of life and what constitutes a soul into the public discussion.

I've read theories about how computer chips, designed to help the disabled to overcome disabilities (the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk) will become competitive advantages and, thereby, incorporated into our daily lives. For example, if I have a business where everyone has a communication chip in their brain that allows them to communicate at the speed of thought... think how much more efficient my business will be compared to those peole who have to communicate the old fashioned way... with their mouths.

As media storage becomes both larger in capacity and smaller in size, and computing power continues to double every 18 months, it is theorized that, one day, you'll be able to download the contents of your brain. And, it would then be possible to have mulitple backups of your brain. And you could also have that brain power working in a virtual realm, like the internet, working for you. Think of that... you download the contents of your brain onto a computer. That computer now works in a virtual realm for you/with you. When you get home from work, your virtual brain will have had it's own days work. One "person" leading different lives, everyday becoming more and more unique.

Those are pretty big picture ideas, but the one that concerns me the most is the on-demand society. I have little doubt that, within 10 years, the television and entertainment paradigm will shift considerably. As more homes are wired to the internet and the speed of that connection grows, you will be able to download any television or movie program to your television and watch it, on demand, whenever you want. Sure, that's great, but what expectation does that leave our children? That you should expect to get what you want when you want it?

Just a few years ago when I was a child, if you didn't see a movie in the theater, you had to wait years for it to appear on one of the three major networks. Now, if you don't see it at the theater, it will be available on DVD in six months, where you can either watch it in your own home theater or catch it on one of the 500 cable channels. How do you teach children the value of patience and sacrifice if they can get what they want when they want it?

When access to entertainment becomes truly on-demand, I fear that humanity will resort to its baser instincts. Just like the internet itself... it is filled with great historical works, books from every age, paintings, news, etc. But what makes the most money? Pornography, by far.

So when we get on-demand entertainment, I fear we will treat it as a child would a buffet... sure there's good food on the table, but I can fill up on appetizers and desserts instead. In this on-demand world, how much value will educational programming hold over shows with sexual or comedic content? How will religious programming hold up if the only way you can watch it is if you actually chose it... how many people have been touched by stumbling across religious programming while channel surfing? I guess, if someone is ready to be touched by God, God will find a way.

In the end, I don't know how this will all play out. I don't know how my children will react to an on-demand world. God is the master of turning chicket feces into chicken salad, so I can only hope and pray, raise my kids the best I can and let the Lord use that technology to do something amazing.

The Christian Village

One of the main goals of a parent with deep faith is to raise your child in a moral way, in a way that grows their faith and shelter them from exposure to secular elements before they are ready. That last part may confuse some, but as I said to my daughter, I don't let you watch PG13 rated movies, why would I allow you to be in potentially R rated situations?

But this faith development of your children is a difficult, complex process. How much sheltering is too much? Are we to raise our children to succeed both in this world and the next? What good is developing spiritually grounded children if you don't allow them to interact with others who may not have that foundation? Did not Jesus tell us to not hide our faith like a lamp under a basket, but to be the light of the world? Doesn't that mean that we have to interact with those of different moral standards and, hopefully, give them a Christian example?

Parenting is an "individual" exercise. No two parents raise their children in the same way. What one family finds appropriate, the other finds offensive. What some find acceptable, others find detestable. So, though the world is full of parents, it is also full of individual parenting techniques and expectations.

One of my brothers and I were discussing raising our children in a world that is veering quickly toward anti-Christian beliefs. Because Christian teachings hold high and strict standards, they are considered by some to be closed-minded. Yet, Muslims and Jews hold many of the same stances on gay marriage, premarital sex and abortion, but it is Christians who are considered intolerant.

As my brother and I discussed this subject, he mentioned that it would be great if we could live in a place like The Village, the film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. I don't want to give away any major plot points, but the jist of it is that these people are protected from the outside world and The Village existence, though limited, is often idealic to most. My brother felt that living in a Christian Village would be great, where we could live our faith without having to combat the increasingly pervasive secular forces that our children are exposed to and often are at polar opposites of our Christian beliefs.

I thought about that for a long time... would it be better to live in a Christian Village? It would be easier, that's for sure. But, is it the right thing? Is it what Jesus intended? For us to worship Him in seclusion? Again, I pondered this for a long time... I finally concluded, to me, that this is exactly opposite of what Jesus intended.

Jesus did not die on the cross so that we would huddle with like-minded Christians... if we are to follow His example, we should be out there with the polar opposites of our faith, trying to educate them on why Jesus is our Savior. Jesus did not spend His time hanging with His apostles, avoiding confrontation. Nor did He spend all of His time with Jewish Rabbi's who understood His mission. No, He spent His time with the sinners of all sinners, the repugnant and reviled... the lepers, the tax collectors and prostitutes. Remember, lepers were thought to have the disease because of sin. Prostitutes lived daily and profited by their sin. Tax Collectors were the lowest of the lot, the Kings of Sinners. Yet, that is where Jesus spent His time... with those who needed His grace most.

I look back on my life and realize that God has an uncanny way of putting me in situations where I may be the lone voice of Christian values. I've been in many situations where I was the outsider, even in the presence of vocal Satanist... but I remember thinking two things... 1) no matter how uncomfortable I am, the Holy Spirit will guide me in these situations and 2) if I wasn't there, Jesus would not be represented at all.

Does that make me holy or a saint? Far from it... my sins are too numerous and reoccurring for me to be that holy. But, the Holy Spirit can use any of us as ambassadors for Christ. Its those situations that force me to live my faith, a lone Christian salmon swimming upstream. I would remember something I told my children... when God looks at us, he doesn't see our body, but our souls. And, when I interacted with those people of differing values, I had to look past their looks, their tattoos, their piercings, their clothes and try to look upon them with God's eyes... how brilliant are their souls beneath the human facade?

So, would it be great to raise our children in the Christian Village? As I said, it'd sure be a lot easier. But it would also not allow us to live our faith, to be the light for Christ. I realized that I must raise my children in their faith. That I must not only make them participate, but to understand why we believe what we believe. And I must also prepare them, not shelter them, for the world. God's path for them will certainly include moments for them to share their faiths with people who do not feel the same.

In the end, that may be the entire reason for their existence. We never know. My entire reason for being on this planet may be for me to have a single conversation with one person 10 years from now at a film party. And that every moment, every decision, every curve in the path may have all been scripted to lead up to that point. In the end, we just don't know.

That's why we must rely on our faith. And it is that faith that I must endow to my children and trust that, when faced with spiritual challenges, when they are unsheltered, that the Holy Spirit will guide them as He has guided me.

Predictor Pete - Week One

Every week I'll make a lame attempt to pick the winner of the Bucs game.

This week they open the season at Minnesota.

My Heart: Bucs 24-20.
My Mind: Minnesota 23-10.
My Colon: Minnesota 21-20.

My Pick: Bucs 21-17... C'mon! Its the first week of the season! I have to be optimistic.

My Record: 0 - 0.

The Joy of Fall Ball

My son loves baseball. It is his passion. It quells his competitive urge. It is a slice of nirvana in his eight-year old world.

One day my son and I were driving home and, as we passed the baseball fields, he sighed to himself and said "That's where all of my dreams come true."

I love his passion and talent for the game. My wife and I hope it gets him a college scholarship somewhere. If it takes him beyond that, it'd be a bonus. But, as I watch my son continue to grow... to see his love of baseball increase every year since he was two, I can only think that I'll be at a major league park one day, watching him play and I'll sigh to myself and say "I think all of my dreams have come true."

The Delicate Matter of Race Relations

Let me start by saying I'm a middle class white male. I have rarely felt the upstream battle of being a minority. My parents did not raise a bigoted household. My best friend for most of my youth was a minority named Anthony Parker... We played together. We went to school together. I slept over his house, he slept over mine. At one point I asked my mother why I couldn't get a tan "like Tony." That was the first time I had to understand that God makes our pigments different.

The impact of Katrina and the events in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast have highlighted both the highs and lows of mankind. In hours of distress, we either buckle or we overcome, we either panic or we resolve. In the wake of this natural tragedy, I am deeply saddened by how quickly this "act of God" became a political and race issue. I find any tie of racism or bigotry in response of governmental assistance to the victims to be completely outlandish. ALL races were impacted by this disaster and ALL races have done their best to assist in one way or another.

What did race have to do with the complete lack of planning by the Mayor of New Orleans? Or the Govenor of Louisiana? What did race have to do with the bureaucratic delays causing FEMA and the National Guard to show up 24 hours later than they should? How does any of this means that "George Bush doesn't like black people?" I think Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell may beg to differ. And why would anyone equate the wrath of Mother Nature to race in the first place?

Should the Asian communities in Mississippi feel that they are being discriminated against because the African Americans in New Orleans are getting all of the press and assistance? How should the Latin communities in Alabama react?

The issue of racism and bigotry was initially created by ignorance and is still fueled today by further ignorance. In the end, I believe the only way we can, as a country, overcome racism and bigotry is two fold. First, we all need to have our foundation built upon the same moral compass of what is right and wrong. Secondly, we need to be personally accountable against those universal moral ideals. Only then can we all move toward a single point of racial liberation. Only then can we change this deep seeded problem, one person at a time.

Unfortunately, in a world where everyone's morality is open for acceptance, I find this goal too lofty to achieve.

Home Is Where The Theater Is... Part Deux

In honor of our great Labor force, I spent the Labor Day weekend trying to finish my Home Theater. We got the entertainment center 95% complete and we got the riser 100% complete. Overall, there is only a few things to be done before the finishing work occurs (painting, carpeting, etc.)



You can see pics and all the boring details HERE.

I hope everyone had a happy, safe and restful Labor Day Weekend.

Writers Cramp

For writers, writing is a love/hate existence. We are creatively drawn to writing, but it can often be a painful experience... equivalent to giving artistic birth.

One of the main reasons I started this blog was to get the writing creative juices flowing again. The goal I have set for myself is to write a blog entry daily for at least one year... 365 entries. This forces me to write and gets me back into the writing process.

I have a lot of script ideas that are flowing in my head. Most of my free time lately has been dedicated to finishing the conversion of my office into a home theater, but I'm getting a backlog of creative ideas that I need to get out, writings that are anxiously waiting to fill a blank page.

Yet, the process of writing is a very tough thing. Some days the juices are flowing and everything just pours onto the page. And then there are other days, where the blank page is equivalent to a two ton weight around my neck, holding me under the waters of indecision.

So, like most of the best things in life, writing comes with a price. Sometimes hefty, but, in the end, always rewarding.

There are three phrases that I keep in mind when writing:
1) Writers must love the process of writing - The love of writing must be stronger than the hate of the struggle it entails.
2) Writing is rewriting - get the first draft out anyway you can. The first draft is the hardest draft. If you accept that writing is rewriting, you'll know that you're going to have to rewrite it anyway. So purge the idea onto the page and worry about fixing it into your own personal masterpiece later.
3) Anything can happen - when writers block occurs, it always means that the writer has lost they story and no longer know where it is going. They don't know what happens next. And when faced with a creative moment where you feel like you've painted yourself into a plot corner, I always remember that anything can happen. And this frees me to come up with an imaginative plot twist that excises me from the painted corner and back into the story.

In the end, writers must write. They don't really have a choice. Like a creative crack addict, no matter what happens, the urge for our next hit eventually overwhelms us.

My Only Vice

When my wife and I were engaged to be married, I told her "I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't do drugs, I won't cheat... but I do watch football."

I love football. Its the only sport that I will actively watch from start to finish, even if my team is not one of the two on the field. I don't know where this passion comes from. I played one year in sixth grade on a winless team. I was unimpressive and a team was even less so.

I certainly didn't have a local pro team to emulate. After all, I grew up primarily in Tampa Bay, which makes me a life-long Buccaneer fan. For a very long time, that was not an easy thing to be.

I had attended at least one home game every year since 1977, so I had my fair share of bad, bad, bad football. Oh, and it sucked too. And it was ugly to boot. Not only was there an awful product on the field, but it was all dressed up in a silly looking orange uniform. I will admit, however, that I was partial to the Bucco Bruce logo, but the creamsicle uniforms were hard to swallow.

My patience was eventually rewarded when the Bucs finally won the Super Bowl a few years back. My brother Steve, with whom we share our passion for Buc Ball, found ourselves gleefully stating "The Bucs are Super Bowl Champs! Can you believe it?" The mere idea that the Bucs could be world champs was unfathomable when the team has such past leaders such as:

• Mike "Now We REALLY Miss Doug Williams" Rae
• Vinnie "Intercepteverde"
• Jack "The Over-Throwing Samoan" Thompson
• Chris "But I Want to Start Too" Chandler
• Rod "Toast" Jones
• Steve "What Team Am I On Again?" DeBerg
• Booker "Bust" Reese
• Keith "Pro Football Sure Is Fast" McCants
• and Alvin "Paging Mr. Irving" Harper
  

We had only wished such great ex-Bucs such as Leroy Selmon, Paul Gruber, James Wilder and Rickey Bell could not have tasted such victory.

And now, we are only a few short days away from the kickoff of the 30th year of Tampa Bay Bucdom and it doesn't look pretty. I'd be happy if we have a winning record, though I feel the difference between a 10-6 and 6-10 record is too close for comfort. We are in a state of transition and its a painful process.

But, as my vice rear its ugly head again this season, my wife will patiently avoid me Sunday afternoons as I watch every painful, joyful and tearful moment of my addiction called the National Football League.

The Sum Is Greater Than Its Parents

When you first become a parent, you have some pretty stupid, uninformed ideas as to what that means. There are SO many things you have to learn, SO many ways you have to grow and mature and SO many ways to be surprised.

For some reason, relishing in my ignorance, I somehow believed that my kids could do no better than what my wife and I genetically bring to the table. Yes, that means I forgot that we both have generations of DNA waiting to be unleashed from family members gone by... I told you, I was an idiot.

So, when my kids started doing things better than I could have ever imagined, it caught me off guard. As a writer, I love words, but my daughter has had a mastery of language that I could not even have comprehended at her age. She is an incredibly talented writer and is able to phrase things in such tremendously beautiful ways.

And my son is a baseball freak, in the best sense of the word. His skills, understanding and competitiveness when it comes to baseball are years ahead of most kids his age. He's eight, can throw over 40 mph fastball and is a switch hitter. I was lucky to remember to wear my cup when I was eight and he's making diving catches at third base.

This pleasant surprise... that my kids have unique talents, has been a great ride for both of us. As a parent, I get to foster their God-given talents and watch them achieve things I could never achieve and they get to have our support and attempt tasks with unknown outcomes with the knowlege that we will be there to catch them if they fall.

Again, I am brought back to the thought that being a parent gives us greater insight into God. That He is there through our journey and will catch us when we fall.

I was sitting in my living room the other night watching my children and I was so filled with love for them. And I looked up to heaven and thought, "God, you love us even more than I love my children, don't you?" How He must take great joy in our overcoming obstacles, of fulfilling our dreams, of sharing that success with Him. As with any parent, you want your children to be both independent and, at the same time, actively involved in your life.

So, as my children continue to explore frontiers specifically designed for them, I sit gladly in the passenger seat and enjoy the ride, all the while reminding myself to make sure God sits next to me when as I brave through my own personal adventures.

Painful Lessons Learned

My heart aches for those pour souls in New Orleans...

The most disheartening aspect of all of this is the fact that so many people who should have known better appear to be caught by surprise.

• If your city is on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, below sea level, surrounded by a lake and a mighty river and is only dry because of levies and numerous pumping stations, how can the Mayor of New Orleans and the Govenor of Louisiana NOT have a disaster plan in place, ready to go, that facilitates a massive evacuation of a city underwater?
• How can the Mayor and Govenor of Louisiana not have understood the human toll? They know how many people own cars in New Orleans. They also know how many people live in New Orleans. Yet, they did not know that thousands of poor would have no quick way to exit the city?
• How can the Mayor and Govenor of Louisiana provide a "solution" where they plop thousands of people in the Superdome without beds, without water, without food and without generators?
• How can news reporters get into the area, but soldiers or police cannot?
• How can news helicopters fly around, but helicopters full of water cannot?
• How could all of this been a surprise to anyone who's job it is to know that this could happen?

I feel so badly for those displaced people in New Orleans. Personally, I think they should tear everything down, call it Lake New Orleans, and rebuild the place in the spirit of Venice, Italy... a city on the water.

Unfortunately, there are months ahead of more painful lessons to be learned. The only silver lining I can find out of this horrible event is that I hope our government officials are better suited to respond to such widespread destruction in a much more efficient manner. Because I believe it is only a matter of time before a terrorist organization unleases a WMD in the US, whether that be a dirty bomb, a nuke or a virus of some sort... I can only hope and pray that our government response will be vastly better from the lessons learned from the awful events unfolding after Hurricane Katrina.

Home Is Where The Theater Is...

As a movie junkie and theater nut, cinema is my life. If I weren't so religious, the movie theater would be my church and movie actors, my idols.

Human beings are inherently drawn to shared experiences such as family gatherings, sporting events, stage performances and movie theaters. But the pain of the movie experience has quickly outweighed the gain of watching a movie with hundreds of strangers.

Going to the movies used to be a wonderful experience. Something special. For your nickel you got cartoons, new reels, movie serials and perhaps a double feature. Now, for your ten bucks you get 30 minutes of television commercials, 20 minutes of movie trailers, vastly overpriced concession products, cellphones ringing, inconsiderate movie goers, and the first look of a film that will be available on DVD within six months.

Going to the movies used to be an event, now it's an expensive extension of my living room... which made me wonder why I don't just put the theater in my house.

So, in a fit of temporary insanity, I decided to turn my home office into a home theater. I immediately rode the wave of excitement and completely destroyed my office in no time... removing the carpet, tile, everything. Nothing but barren walls and a concrete floor. Then a thought occured to me... putting a movie theater in here is going to cost money! Probably more than I anticipate! Plus, I have no carpentry skills what-so-ever! And I can't do electrical work either!

Huh. This could be a problem.

So, the room sat in its naked state for months as I designed the eventual transformation and bartered some carpentry skills from a good friend. The constuction would consist of five basic areas...
1) an entertainment center to hold the electronics and movie screen
2) a built in desk for my computer and video editing hardware
3) a mini-concessions/candy rack with a mini-fridge, above which would store DVDs
4) a riser in the back half of the room for two-level seating.
5) a mosaic tile of the Local Talent Productions logo.

Eight months have passed and we're finally making headway.

I've finally completed the mini-concession/candy rack area. The mosaic tile is done. We're about 50% done on the desk, 50% done on the entertainment center and 30% done on the risers.

I hope to have it all completed by the start of football season. It may not be completely done, but if it's close enough for me to plop down the projector and watch the Bucs vs. Vikes the first week, I'll be a happy camper. I'll have more on the project as things progress.

In the end, I'll have a small movie theater in my house where my love for movies can be enjoyed, without the interruptions, the commercials and the overly expensive snacks.

God's Plan vs. Our Plan

This week's homily was by a priest in charge of the diocesan vocations for priests, nuns and other religious positions. Being married, the only area of interest for me would be becoming a deacon, but I believe that will have to wait until the kids are out of the house.

In any event, he began his homily with a very simple, yet powerful statement. He explained the God has a plan for all of us and it is up to us as to whether we will follow that plan.

I thought about that for a long time... God has an individually designed specific divine plan for each and every one of us. And, with Free Will, we have the ability to either take that path or ignore God's call. For a long time, I wondered how I was to meld my creative passions with my faith and am actively working toward that end. But is that the right path? My path?

And, yet, I am reminded by the writings of St. Paul when he states that we are all part of God's one body. That, just as our body is made up of different organs and functions, we too bring different talents, skills and paths to God's body. Some of us are apologists, some of us raise our children with God as a focus, some of us evangelize, some of us write, some of us paint, some of us sing, some of us help, some of us lead, some of us follow... but with each skill comes a unique path that God has laid for us... will we take it? I'm sure there will be bumps in the road and the path may, at times, look as if it is leading us into trouble or discomfort, but if it is laid by the Creator, then why do we resist taking it?

I continue to ponder that question, what is God's path for me? And am I willing to trust Him enough to take it? It is only through prayer that the answer will be shown to me... do I have enough faith to pray and ask for that answer? What if God wants me to do something I don't want to do?

Ugh... faith... it sure ain't easy.

Medicine Oil?

Why is the oil industry the only industry that raises prices when they only have the POTENTIAL for issues to arise? I remember when the Exxon Valdes spilled oil in Alaska and suddenly ALL of the oil companies raised prices because of the cost to Exxon on the clean up.

Excuse me?

If I had a sports bar and I was in competition with three other sports bars and I had a fire in my bar, do you think they'd raise prices while I rebuilt? No, they'd watch me die a slow and painful capitalistic death and celebrate their greater share of the sports bar market.

But with the oil companies, if they even hint that one of them is going to have issues, everyone gets in on the "let's screw the average Joe" mentality. So, Hurricane Katrina is going to move through the Gulf of Mexico... let's raise prices! Is there any damage? Don't know, raise prices! But we don't even know what the impact is to the market? We don't need to know, raise prices!

What a scam!

Long mileage hybrids can't come soon enough for me. And here's a message to the hybrid car makers... if home electricians can load up your hybrid car's trunk with batteries and turn their 40 mpg cars into 200 mpg cars, don't you think you guys could at least offer that as an option?

I can't be the only person who thinks of this stuff... I'm simply not that smart!

I should have started an oil company or an insurance company. I'd be filthy rich and then, perhaps, I would understand the justification for screwing hard earned cash out of every American citizen for the sake of my own, excessively deep pockets.

*Sigh* Nah, that wouldn't have helped... my damn morals would have gotten in the way.