Weekly LOLz

glad we don't have one of these signs!

On home soil

We just landed and are ready to head through passport control and
right back to the good 'ole USA!!!

Here are the results::::5:19:13!!!

I just want you to know that I felt great with this race. If I had not danced with each Samba group (there were about 12 of them), had not do such a slow pace early, had not given most of the kids on the side of the road a "high-5" and if I had run instead of walking when I could not even feel my legs, and not talked (while running) to this nice young lady from Ireland as we ran (she was not running my pace) I think I could have done it under 5 hours, but then I would not have enjoyed my race as much...so I guess it all works out well in the end. I am off for tonight, not sure how much access I will have over the next few days, but if I do I will upload a few photos. Peace

Done with the marathon!!!

Well I am done and just back to the hotel. I finished in around 5:19:00ish. I cannot tell you the exact time, because the SMS service did not send me a text. If you have one let me know the times. Anyway I am done and will upload some photos soon. I AM DONE & I FEEL GREAT!!!!!!!

Off to the race

It is now 6:47AM in Berlin and I am up and getting ready to head off to the race. I cannot believe it is actually here...oh my! Anyway I will update as I can later and if you want more info while the race is going on then go sign up for the SMS updates that I posted the other day. Keep a good thought for me and say a prayer. Peace

Been busy in berlin

I will try to put a few things up here for you to read on Satuday (my rest day before he big race) So just give me a few more hours and I will have some wonderful photos and stories of what we have seen and in our first two days...I am tired now, I will do more later.

Peace

Weekly LOLz

ahhh, the 80's

Can you see me?

It is 4:30am local time (although this won't post until later) and we
are on our way to the airport for our flight to Berlin. I know I have
made post in the past about bring up early...but honestly who out
there knew there was a 4:30am as well as 4:30pm???? More later...

Day 1 and 2 of Madrid

Just getting ready to go eat dinner, man they eat late around here, and thought I would post some photos for your enjoyment. Yesterday was a long one. We got to the hotel and took just a short nap. Then went on a tour with the Free Tour people (like I did last year in Berlin). Then did a little shopping and some more rest. Then off to dinner about 10pm. A short walk back to hotel and a great nights rest. We got up this morning and were off the the Prado for a bit of art. It was wonderful and they had a Caravaggio and plenty of El Greco and Goya (not the black bean guy). After all the art we went to a Charlie Chaplin, which was quite nice and funny. All the art had worn me out and the Chaplin stuff was just the ticket. After that it was time for some lunch (at the Museum of Ham, they are crazy about ham here) and then a siesta. After siesta then a stroll to the Plaza de Espana and the Templo de Debod. When we were leaving the park around the Templo a fly landed on me and stayed with me all the way home, check out the photos below. Ok I need to get ready for dinner. Have a great day! Peace

Birthday is Postponed

Since I have the marathon on Sunday (by the way go back and read this post I had last year) I have to watch what I eat and drink (especailly what I drink) I have decided to celebrate my birthday next Tuesday in Munich...at Oktoberfest! Doesn't that sound like a much better idea...done with the race and ready to eat and drink!

This looks like fun...

and I am sure somewhat dangerous...enjoy!

Made it to Madrid

We made it safely to Madrid. Our Captain, First Officer, and Flight Attendant are all Holy Trinity parishioners...maybe they need to join St. Matthew???? It was a great flight and the service was outstanding as Captain Peter H. (my tennis buddy) told the whole flight crew that it was my birthday this week so they spoiled me...it did not hurt the Jayne was taking care of my section so she was especially attentive. We have checked into the hotel and are getting a short rest then off for a busy day of sightseeing. La Paz!

Jayne our Flight Attendant

Yours truly and our wonderful flight attendant

Kevin, Peter, Me, Jayne, Howard

Ready for takeoff

We are on the plane ready to take off for Madrid. I will try to keep
the posting up while away. Oh did I tell you that a guy from my tennis
team is the captian on the flight...cool huh? See you later. Peace

Feast Day!

Well we ended our Novena this morning and we went out with a bang! My goodness there were Baptisms, Anointings, new images to bless, singing, dancing and phones being used during Mass. During the homily after realizing the blessing we have from the Lord, I encouraged people to share those blessing immediately (with a reminder to do it every day as well). So you will see photos of people on their phones. It was hectic and wonderful and spirit filled Mass! We are truly blessed here at St. Matthew, what a wonderful family we have!!! I am off to get things finalized at home and then I am off to Madrid. Here are a bunch of photos for you to enjoy, some even have captions. Enjoy!!

New Images of St. Matthew

As many of your know each year we commission a new image of St. Matthew. Well in 2007 I had some trouble getting an artist, but I did find one in 2007 but we had to wait for his backlog to clear and now we have our 2007 image. Also earlier in 2008 I met another artist whom I commissioned to do our 2008 image, so without any further ado...here they are!

This one was done by Matthew Alderman an artist from New York City who is also an ND grad: he blogs over at the Shrine of the Holy Whapping. You really do need to see this image up close to see all the symbolism.

St. Matthew-2007

Here is a piece written by Matthew describing our 2007 image of St. Matthew

The Martyrdom of St Matthew

Our image for 2008 was done by Sheila Chambers an artist from Salt Lake City and a friend on my sister Angela. You can even see her in the photo gallery from the house blessing in SLC. She is in the photo titled "all in prayer". These two images are representations of the Call of the Disciple. The top one is the Call of Matthew the bottom one is the call of the modern person to follow the call of the Lord to be his disciple. They are truly stunning images, again you need to see them in person.

St. Matthew-2008

I could not be more pleased with the images. Thanks to the creators of these images, they will serve our parish family well. Peace to all!

Need your cell phone

Bring your cellphone to Mass tomorrow morning at 10! Also if you have a digital camera bring it as well. Peace

Extravaganza!!!

We had our annual Extravaganza this evening a good time was had by all. Here are the photos...enjoy!

Weekly LOLz

Pancake Breakfast

We had a pancake breakfast a couple of Sundays ago and I forgot to post the photos, here they are. Enjoy

Convocation almost done

We are in the final strecth of this convocation. It has become a tradition that we take a group photo, and last night was no different. Michael Alexander was on had to help us out with the photo, even though there were plenty of priest with their cameras out and ready to snap some photos. After the photo we had a great dinner and then had some fun in the social hour. Here are some photos from last night and today.

Guess who else is here

Deacon Salomon

Berlin Marathon

(click for larger photo)

So it is 11 days until the Berlin Marathon...I know I can't believe it either. I keep running through the course in my head, keeping my self psyched up so that I will be able to make my 5 hour time goal*. That being said here are some helpful links for the Marathon:

• If you are interested in tracking my progress through the race, you can sign up here and the race people will send you an SMS or an email. My race number is 10259
• If you want to be able to watch the Marathon streaming live you can go here to Universal Sports. I will probably not be featured in the coverage, but you can watch the fast folks go at it.

* My time goal is as follows: Best time to reach the finish line is sub 5hours, time I which will be fine to cross the finish line 5:30, time I will see as only being glad I finished 5:45 and time I will just be glad to be alive is +5:46

Dog escape artist

Not to be outdone by yesterday's Ninja Cat, this little pup makes a break for it in the most clever way...amazing.

Convocation

We are still going strong today. Here are some photos from yesterday and today. I promise to get some better photos today. Peace

This beautiful cat is a Ninja!

See for yourself!

Convocation

We are in full swing here at Lake Lanier. About 185 priests gathered
for this convocation. Fr. Noah Casey, a seminary prof of mine, is
speaking today. We have been going since 9am and Noah says we are
finally in the home stretch. Anyway some of you might know who is
sitting next to me this morning. It is Fr. Tom Reilly, M.S. former
pastor (1978-1981) of St. Matthew. Keep us in prayer. More later.

The Results are in

Not first and not last...I will do better next year!


CLYDESDALE
PLACE O'ALL  NO.  NAME                    AGE CITY,ST           RANK  SWIM    RATE TRANS RANK  BIKE   MPH   TRANS RANK   RUN   PACE  TIME      PEN  RULE
===== ===== ===== ======================= === ================= ==== =======  ==== ===== ==== ======= ===== ===== ====  ====== ===== =======   ==== ====
 1    65    95 Corey McLeroy            31 Bishop         GA    2   24:46   2.3  2:24    4 1:17:47  20.2  1:08    1   47:38  7:41 2:33:41             
 2   102   214 Stephen Holbrook         47 Atlanta        GA    9   29:12   1.9  2:18    2 1:12:12  21.8  1:20    3   55:06  8:54 2:40:06             
 3   104    39 Terry Ingmire            36 Dawsonville    GA    8   29:04   1.9  2:15    1 1:09:21  22.7  1:31    5   56:18  9:05 2:40:27    2:00 5.10G
 4   141    98 Brian O'Neill            33 Cumming        GA    3   26:41   2.1  3:25    3 1:15:59  20.7  1:43    8   59:11  9:33 2:46:58             
 5   168   566 Joseph Schum             47 Atlanta        GA   12   30:46   1.8  2:48    7 1:19:47  19.7  1:07    4   56:16  9:05 2:50:41             
 6   173   522 Stefan Brecher           35 Atlanta        GA    4   27:29   2.0  4:03    5 1:17:56  20.2  1:51   10 1:00:01  9:41 2:51:18             
 7   186    48 Brandon Walts            33 Minneapolis    MN    1   19:43   2.8  3:11   12 1:23:29  18.8  1:05   14 1:05:09 10:31 2:52:35             
 8   196   244 Chris Couch              43 Alpharetta     GA   21   33:47   1.7  2:56    6 1:18:53  19.9  1:05    7   57:00  9:12 2:53:40             
 9   200   259 Josh Hayes               32 Cornelius      NC   10   29:39   1.9  2:17    8 1:19:50  19.7  1:00   12 1:01:24  9:55 2:54:09             
10   201   323 Chris Dupree             38 Acworth        GA   13   30:55   1.8  2:33   11 1:22:58  18.9  1:19    6   56:24  9:06 2:54:09             
11   207   179 Kevin Kimbell            38 Alpharetta     GA    5   28:28   2.0  2:45   10 1:22:38  19.0  1:34    9   59:26  9:36 2:54:49             
12   221   463 Todd Haney               37 Acworth        GA   22   33:55   1.6  2:52   15 1:24:39  18.6  1:40    2   53:36  8:39 2:56:40             
13   238   251 Michael Fierro           39 Mableton       GA    6   28:35   2.0  3:54   13 1:24:00  18.7  1:24   11 1:00:59  9:51 2:58:51             
14   334   186 Daniel Morgan            38 Milton         GA   11   29:40   1.9  2:38    9 1:22:16  19.1  2:17   21 1:16:01 12:16 3:12:50             
15   344   172 Chris Groh               40 Roswell        GA    7   28:57   1.9  4:04   24 1:32:29  17.0  3:39   16 1:05:25 10:33 3:14:32             
16   356   275 Joshua Mantz             25 Columbus       GA   17   32:41   1.7  2:22   25 1:33:20  16.8  3:03   15 1:05:21 10:33 3:16:44             
17   367   233 Jeffrey Brannon          28 Mableton       GA   14   31:45   1.8  3:30   14 1:24:27  18.6  2:08   22 1:16:04 12:17 3:17:52             
18   379   462 Ray Freeman              30 Atlanta        GA   19   33:05   1.7  2:36   16 1:24:46  18.5  2:23   26 1:18:01 12:35 3:20:50             
19   385   382 Robert Cornett           32 Hoschton       GA   20   33:05   1.7  2:31   29 1:42:06  15.4  2:37   13 1:01:55 10:00 3:22:12             
20   390   238 Jim Burke                41 Atlanta        GA   18   33:01   1.7  3:23   21 1:31:01  17.3  2:11   18 1:13:28 11:51 3:23:02             
21   398   274 Kevin Mangum             42 Cornelia       GA   15   31:47   1.8  3:33   18 1:28:59  17.7  3:44   25 1:17:36 12:31 3:25:38             
22   403   386 Mark Davids              36 Atlanta        GA   23   34:32   1.6  9:28   17 1:28:36  17.7  2:49   17 1:10:57 11:27 3:26:21             
23   405   327 Victor Galier            37 Tyrone         GA   24   34:50   1.6  3:48   23 1:31:49  17.1  1:37   20 1:15:17 12:09 3:27:18             
24   408   245 Greg Curry               45 Cumming        GA   28   36:44   1.5  3:42   19 1:30:10  17.4  2:48   19 1:14:17 11:59 3:27:40             
25   412   471 David Lancaster          31 Sharpsburg     GA   26   35:27   1.6  3:12   20 1:30:41  17.3  2:23   23 1:16:28 12:20 3:28:09             
26   423   414 John McIlwaine           37 Alpharetta     GA   16   32:21   1.7  3:09   26 1:36:43  16.3  1:37   27 1:18:34 12:41 3:32:21             
27   439   265 Clint Ivester            33 Dallas         GA   31   43:58   1.3  4:04   22 1:31:22  17.2  2:23   24 1:17:36 12:31 3:39:20             
28   452   413 Joseph Mattocks          38 Greenville     SC   25   35:21   1.6  4:16   28 1:39:44  15.8  2:10   28 1:23:33 13:29 3:45:03             
29   462   504 Mark Murphy              48 Duluth         GA   30   37:51   1.5  5:30   27 1:39:34  15.8  3:16   29 1:26:12 13:55 3:52:21             
30   472   555 Walter Kenzie            50 Roswell        GA   27   36:37   1.5  4:15   31 1:54:03  13.8  2:04   30 1:32:43 14:58 4:09:41           
32     0   562 Chris Treanor            39 Roswell        GA   29   36:48   1.5  4:40   30 1:48:18  14.5  4:09                            

We won!

'nuff said

After party

The team with the Archbishop!

Done

14 under par and we are done. Let's see if it holds up.

Peace,
vg

Update

We have seemed to hit the wall. We are 11 under through 15

Peace,
vg

Almost a hole in one

J. D. just about had a hole in one. That now makes us 11 under through
12 holes.

Peace,
vg

Update

9 holes 8 under

Peace,
vg

Correction

8 holes 7 under

Peace,
vg

Golf update

8 holes 6 under par

Peace,
vg

Update

Four holes done and four under.

Peace,
vg

It's on like Donkey Kong!!!

We are ready to go. Wish us luck! More later...

This in not real!

But it is quite funny. Hate to say it but I would side with the Presbyterians on this one... Click for larger, more readable version.

Squirrel Melts

Squirrel Melts sounds tasty huh? Ok, fair warning this video is slightly disturbing...on a number of different levels. It is just too strange not to post it. The mom has a line..."squirrels like nuts" that just about made me fall out of my chair laughing (although I am not sure she meant it as a joke). Anyway fair warning this one is really really strange!

Don't press play if you are squeamish!

DONE!!!!

3:28ish. More later.

Ready to race!

Well I am at Lake Tugaloo for my biggest triathlon ever! I have ridden
the run course so I can see what I am in for in the morning. The swim
looks fine even though the water is way down. The bike should be a
challenge with all it's rolling hills! 1.5k swim. 42k bike. 10k run.
My time goal is 3 hours, I will let you know more tomorrow. Say a
prayer for me. Thanks. Peace.

This is painful

This is just sad. Makes my ears and eyes bleed. Maybe she should have just stuck with the funny dancing and bad acting. I am sure John Williams' is pained to watch this. You have been warned!

Weekly LOLz

Just like my mom did for me when I was in school...


like me in school...




just like JT...


love the 80's


thanks for the help, I was wondering what to do with them...

Storm Tracking

If you need to track the hurricanes that seem to be blowing through weekly, here is a good site.

I think 3M must have sponsored this...

Loads of colorful fun for your Friday. Enjoy

Today

Lots of posts up today. Here is a round up:

The Concord Pastor has a couple of good links up: here and here

The Deacon's Bench also has a few things up: here and here and here

And finally Rocco beat me to the punch of posting this prayer from the Pope when he visited Ground Zero in April. Peace

O God of love, compassion, and healing,
look on us, people of many different faiths
and traditions,
who gather today at this site,
the scene of incredible violence and pain.

We ask you in your goodness
to give eternal light and peace
to all who died here—
the heroic first-responders:
our fire fighters, police officers,
emergency service workers, and
Port Authority personnel,
along with all the innocent men and women
who were victims of this tragedy
simply because their work or service
brought them here on September 11, 2001.

We ask you, in your compassion
to bring healing to those
who, because of their presence here that day,
suffer from injuries and illness.
Heal, too, the pain of still-grieving families
and all who lost loved ones in this tragedy.
Give them strength to continue their lives
with courage and hope.

We are mindful as well
of those who suffered death, injury, and loss
on the same day at the Pentagon and in
Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Our hearts are one with theirs
as our prayer embraces their pain and suffering.

God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world:
peace in the hearts of all men and women
and peace among the nations of the earth.
Turn to your way of love
those whose hearts and minds
are consumed with hatred.

God of understanding,
overwhelmed by the magnitude of this tragedy,
we seek your light and guidance
as we confront such terrible events.
Grant that those whose lives were spared
may live so that the lives lost here
may not have been lost in vain.

Comfort and console us,
strengthen us in hope,
and give us the wisdom and courage
to work tirelessly for a world
where true peace and love reign
among nations and in the hearts of all.

Pope Benedict XVI
Prayer at Ground Zero
New York, 20 April 2008

Just wait for it

When you see it, it is quite painful! But not in the way you think.

It is a Coke folks!

Growing up everything was a 'coke' no matter if it was a Coke, Pepsi, or Dr. Pepper. Even here in Georgia it is mostly the same thing...except for those who come from other areas!?! Anyway this little graphic should help make sense of thing for you. Enjoy

Done

I am done and on the way to by waffle house. I have a hiatal hernia,
which has been most of my problems. So I will get that fixed and that
should help. I am on my way home, after a waffle and eggs! See you
later and thanks for your prayers. Peace!

UPDATE: Can you tell I wrote this while I was still under the influence of the anesthesia???

Up way to early

Well you remember that I have had some reflux problems? Well this
morning I am off to get "scoped", what fun! Thank goodness it is just
going down my throat and no other direction. It should take me out of
service for the rest of the day. Keep a good thought for me. Peace.

This could be hours of fun

Amazing technology!!! It uses a little fan and you have hours of fun!

Don't try this at home

I love the Myth Busters and this is a good short clip. I love how science is fun...enjoy!

Love the show...

...and I love this fan made Lego Simpsons intro.

Br. Elliott Maloney, O. S. B.

Br. Elliott was my scripture prof from St. Vincent. You can find his
name in your NAB if you go looking. He is in town for the week and we
are having dinner tonight with Frs. Small and Kingery at The Hil. A
photo of dinner will soon follow.

Look who Google found...

You have been looking for years, looks like he has been in NYC all along.

Weekly LOLz

and, uhhh, thanks?

Recent Deaths

Well like I said it has been a busy week. One of the things that has been taking up some time has been the passing of two wonderful men. I just knew that this week that these two men's deaths were close. As I left Mass on Tuesday I asked the people at Mass to pray for Henry Schnittker & Wil "Bubb" Landry, that God's will might be done in their lives and hopefully a peaceful death. Well just after lunch on Tuesday I got the call that Henry had died. Thursday morning after Mass I asked the people gathered for Mass to pray for Bubb, since they had done such a God job of praying Henry to a peaceful death. Well I had planned to go see Bubb this morning, but the phone rang on my end before I could get down there. Of course the other end of the phone, just about half and hour after I had asked for prayers, had news that Bubb had died. Well it has been a rough road for both families, but Henry and Bubb are at peace and I think that comforts their families as well. So if you don't mind say a prayer for Henry and Bubb and thier families. Thanks!

Slow posting

Sorry about not doing much posting the past two weeks. It has been rather hectic with ministry, other work things for the Archdiocese, training for my upcoming races, dealing with 2 deaths etc...I will be trying to get a bit more out there as I can. Thanks for sticking by me! Peace