7 Quick Takes Friday: Vol #12

1.  Week on Hiatus:  Last week was a wacky week with a wacky one year old.  It happens. As a result my 7 Quick Takes article didn't happen.  I might miss today's 7 Quick Takes if my dear daughter doesn't quit whining, banging her head on the underside of the table and eating the plastic spice canister of turmeric.  

2.  Fair Fare:  We're headed to the county fair tonight for some big city fun:  petting farm animals, people watching and eating fair food.  The guilty pleasure I'm most excited about isn't just another funnel cake... its red velvet funnel cake.  

Go ahead.  Envy me.  

3.  Finally:  Huzzah!  I got a job interview.  Its entry-level for a Christian book company, but hey... there's not too many industries you can specifically target with a Bachelor of Science in Religion with a concentration Biblical Studies.  Hope it works out...

4.  Fall Back Plan:  I seriously want to open up a mobile food vending business.  Though not my first choice, apparently the mobile hot dog business is doing well.  There's something that taps down into my inner man, combining cooking and transportation.  

5.  Oh, by the way:  My wife and I are expecting our second child!  

6.  Article of the Week:  Great article on the Coming Home Network by Thomas Storck titled The Catholic Church: Reality and Ideal.  It does a good job balancing the excitement of the convert having found the truth and the all-too-often disappointment that individual Catholics and parishes don't live up to that truth perfectly.  

7.  Joke of the Week: Removed... before the picture police got on my case.

Read the original at Conversion Diary.

7 Quick Takes Friday: Vol #10

1.  The Batman:  Finally, finally, finally got to see Dark Knight Rises.  My patience was rewarded.  I can't think of a better ending for this trilogy than the one they wrote.  It tied in nicely with the other two films (especially considering this wasn't originally supposed to be a trilogy).  

As far as my guesses went... well, go watch it yourself and see how close I got.  

2.  Inglorious Illegitimate Children:  A few years ago my wife and I rented Quentin Tarantino's most recent movie about a group of Nazi hunters in WWII, called Inglorious... well you know the rest.  I knew it would be weird, but I thought the movie would be funny and perhaps have some point to it.  It was a little funny in some places ("Y'know why I hate fightin' in a basement?  Cuz we're fightin' in a basement.").  It was one of the most worthless movies I've ever seen.

It came on TV this week and my wife and I decided to watch it again.  Perhaps we had expected too much the first time around.  Perhaps we let disappointment ruin what was good in the movie.  We watched it again.

It still stinks.

3.  Fantasy Football:  I read the best rule ever for a fantasy football league.  In order to keep teams from intentionally losing at the end of the season (to get a better draft pick) the rule is that the team that wins the league gets to change the worst team in the league's team name and logo for the entire upcoming season.  

Imagine, your team is in last place.  You have nothing to play for.  Except if you lose your team name next year will be the Wussy-Butt Care Bears and your logo would be Sailor Moon riding a unicorn while playing a flute.  

I'd play like the dickens to avoid that fate.  

4.  Bathroom signs at the Mexican Restaurant:  So... we went to a local Mexican restaurant recently and (as usual) I had to go to the bathroom.  I was expecting the ubiquitous, standard "men-women" sign.  Maybe the kitsch Mexican style "Hombres-Senoritas."  Nope

This bathroom sign just had a picture... but I was able to figure out which bathroom to use:

I mean, come on! How much more macho can you get? Do you know what this picture says? It doesn't say "This restroom is for men." It says, "This restroom is for REAL MEN. Do not enter unless you're wearing an awesome hat, have a bandanna tied around your neck, donning cowboy boots and, let us not forget, a gun with a concealed carry permit. And by the way, our restroom isn't a room at all, you can just unzip and pee on whatever you want."

This what we need. Not the bland, stock clip art, faceless, meaningless man shape.  We need gender role modols.  And nothing says gender role model like a guy out in the middle of a desert, urinating with the force of a garden house and armed with a revolver.  

5.  More Bathroom signs at the Mexican Restaurant:  Think the men's sign was a sight to behold?  Check out the women's sign... because nothing says feminine like squatting to pee on a cactus.

6.  Article of the Week - Theology of the Living Dead.  This article is a little older, but still awesome.  It basically explores the morality of living in a zombie apocalypse.  I'm not big into the whole zombie "thing" but the article is a fun read.  

7.  Meme of the Week:  Removed... before the picture police got on my case.

Read the original at Conversion Diary.

Rote Prayer Rocks! #1

Taken from Magnificat, morning prayer for August 3rd 2012... 

From the prison of our sinfulness, let us cry to God for mercy:
     O Lord, listen to our prayer.
For those who feel hopelessly trapped by the baits of their sin,
grant them forgiveness and peace.
     O Lord, listen to our prayer.
For those who fear your anger,
show them also your love.
     O Lord, listen to our prayer.
For those who delay examining their decisions and habits,
let them see how quickly life passes.
     O Lord, listen to our prayer.

How easy it is, when pressed for time or stressed or in a non-reflective mood, to simply pray "Forgive me Lord!" and move on.  Not that that short prayer goes unanswered or is flippant or a poor prayer.  But there is often more to picture (or should be) than just that.  Our wounds often go much deeper.

I loved the balance of this short part of the morning prayer.  It does, indeed, beg God for forgiveness for the sins we've committed.  It is, as most all pre-fab prayers are, prayed not only for ourselves but for all of us; this takes the individual out of the center, which is a perspective we often need.

It is a prayer for those who are caught in their sin after giving in to temptations, that they will seek and be granted forgiveness.  We've all been there.  It is a prayer for those who fear God's wrath.  We've all been there (and how quickly I forget).

The most painful, for me, was the last.  I am too careless, too negligent, too lax.  I need to be reminded, not that God will forgive me so much as I need to be reminded to seek his forgiveness, oh wretch that I am.  I do not sit aloof while others wallow in sin... I'm the dense one that needs to be reminded that I'm actually sitting in the muck too.

THAT is why rote prayer rocks.

Rote Prayer Rocks! is a short, ongoing series highlighting some of the awesomeness that comes from pre-fab and rote prayers.  I do not share this to demean extemporaneous prayer, but to highlight the 'other side' to those of us who didn't grow up appreciating the power and view often given to us in a set prayer.  

7 Quick Takes Friday: Vol #9

Read the original at Conversion Diary.

1.  Hiatus:  Just when I was getting on a roll with this whole, blogging regularly thing, I missed last week's 7 Quick Takes.  I thought about excuses like being too busy, not feeling good, working on other projects, being under a lot of stress... but to think about using those excuses I'd also have to think about lying.  Truth is I procrastinated and got lazy.  One of these days I'll no longer be lazy... one of these days.

2.  Olympic Coverage Rant:  I wish they had more diverse coverage of the different sports featured in the Summer Olympics.  Gymnastics is entertaining, volleyball is great, water polo is alright and swimming would be exciting if they didn't have 147 different events.  They're all okay.  But come on, can we see more of the other events?  Equestrian, fencing, skeet shooting, field hockey or dodgeball (I wish)?  Something?  Anything?

3.  Teenage Athletes:  Being a former youth minister and working with teenagers for a solid decade I am so impressed with the amount of teenage athletes competing in the Olympics.  There's been two gold medal swimmers, the United States' Melissa Franklin (17) and Lithuania's Rula Meilutyte (15).  Pretty much all the female gymnasts are teenagers.  I saw a teenage kayaker the other day.  I've worked with a lot of teenagers over the years and I can tell you it takes a special someone to develop that kind of work ethic, have the presence and also to handle the pressure of the Olympic stage at such a young age.  So much for teenagers not having the ability to focus, excel or do anything besides make snarky comments to adults in authority and listen to their iPods.  I'm truly impressed. 

4.  Fantasy Football:  Rule #1 of fantasy football is to not bore other people by talking about your fantasy football team (for some of you, I already broke that rule just by writing that sentence).  I, myself, am pumped for this upcoming season.  Since my family has relocated I've had to cobble together a hodgepodge league of friends, family members, and their friends but we've got an interesting league starting up.  10 team Dynasty, year round trading, a very basic salary cap and even a rookie draft in the late spring like the NFL.  Is it nerdy?  Yeah.  But if you're gonna be a nerd, best go all out.  

5.  Still Haven't Seen Batman:  I know, after expelling all that hot gas about the movie a few weeks ago, I still haven't gone to see it.  My daughter had a birthday, I'm coming down with a case of sinus somethingitis and my wife has been feeling "blah."  Life takes precedence over movies about the caped crusader... but I still plan to see the movie about the caped crusader in my life.  Hopefully this week...

6.  Article of the Week - Catholicism in the South:  Very interesting, if brief, read on the Catholic faith in the Southern United States.  My favorite quote, “In such an environment those who are casual cultural and cafeteria Catholics quickly become either ex-Catholics or evangelical Catholics, and that is paradoxically one of the reasons why our congregation and many other Southern parishes are flourishing: The unique challenge for Catholics seeking to live their Christian faith in the South leaves no room for spiritual mediocrity, doctrinal confusion, uncertain commitments or a lukewarm interior life.”

7.  Meme of the Week:  Removed... before the picture police arrested me.

Read the original at Conversion Diary.