Hail damage

If you click on these photos, they should open up so you can see the hail damage on the bell tower steeple. That was some storm!

Credit Crisis

If you needed a bit of a refresher on how the credit crisis happened...now you can know!

Cute advert

This one is cute and funny. Enjoy!

Kitty in another world

This cat is dazed...oh my, I wonder what it is eating.

Hail and it's aftermath

So we were getting ready for 6PM Mass and the heavens opened up, the TV was telling us there was a tornado coming our way. We decided to wait on Mass until we knew that the storm had passed. So we had everyone leave the chapel and head to utility room. The rain started and the hail soon followed. As you can see from the photos it was an amazing amount of hail, and it sounded horrible. I was sure we were going to loose some windows, thank goodness we did not (well Deacon Gayle did). The storm passed and we went out to survey the damage. You can see how much hail we got from the photos. We went on with Mass about 15 mins late, with steam rising outside, it was kind of eerie. After Mass, folks were showing up for RCIA and told me that my street had tons of hail on it. As you can see when I got home about two hours later there was still plenty on the road, in my yard, all over the place. Oh! did I mention that the pine trees bore the brunt of the storm? You could smeel the fresh pine all over the place. Anyway, the house seemed to be fine...until I checked it this morning. As you can see the western side of the house will have to have some major work done on it. We are lucky no one was hurt in the storms, the things we can fix or replace...but even those are not too bad. One final note, there was a small rainbow at the back of the storm...God still there for us!

This would be fun to have

Could you imagine taking this to a slumber party?

Driveway

London tourism

You remember Abbey Road, well here it is today, and watch the tourist re-live the album cover...aren't you glad you don't live, or have to drive, past this place? <>

Hail at Church...more later

I do not want to go there

I think motorist should let us bikers and hikers have the middle of the road on this lane.

photo: www.telegraph.co.uk

At vet

Something is wrong with Rosie, so we are at the vet. More later.

UPDATE: Vet says Rosie was in quite a bit of pain. She did something (nothing broken) to her elbow. He gave her a shot of an anti-inflammatory, which seems to be working nicely. If she is not much better in the morning, the Dr. says he will give her some pain pills. I will let you know if it gets worse. Peace

I need this for the cats

The Control a Cat, cat remote, I am not sure how well it works, but it could not hurt.

Song for your afternoon

Two great musicians making sweet music.

Baptism brunch

Not all mine...just mostly.

Sivy

Christopher has been baptized! Congratulations!!!

Akron

I am on the ground in Akron.

Monkey waiters, part II

That guy from yesterday's kaiten sushi post, I guess, has also been to the monkey waiter restaurant. Here is his video. Thanks andyscearce!

You have seen this before

Faithful readers of this humble blog will of course remember kaiten sushi, here is a video of a trip around the belt in a kaiten sushi restaurant.

You will be singing this later

You have been warned!

What narration!

This kid must be incredibly talented, or is being fed lines. Either way this video is the epitome of cute!

Awww...

This is a video of some firemen who find a koala who has survived the fire, really cute. Oh and they bleep a few choice words if you have really sensitive ears, you have been warned! Keep the people impacted by the fires in your prayers. More info on the fires here.

This is why you are fat

Enjoy these images of food that makes us fat. Have you ever eaten any of these? I would like to try the Mega Double Stuffed Oreo.

They will eat your keys...

Now they are taking over your key-ring...look out folks this is getting serious!

The President in Japan

Who knew that the President knew how to do magic tricks?!!

Fractal Art

Young artist Jen Stark has some amazing work. Check out the video or her site...this is truly amazing stuff. Enjoy

Busy day.

Here are the photos: raw, captioned, uncut and in no particular order.

UPDATE: Hello to all of you from around the net who are landing on my simple blog. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog. If you stay, great! (don't expect too much seriousness around here) If you just are here for this then, may God's peace be with you on your journey.

UPDATE II: One parishioner said to me on Saturday: "We are a better parish today, than we were yesterday because of our new Deacon!" I concur!

UPDATE III: Can you tell which one is our new Deacon? Man I took a bunch of photos of just King, sorry to the rest of you guys, you know I love you. Oh, and thanks to King for throwing me under the bus, when he was preaching...he mentioned how I treat you guys during class. For the Men of Ten and beyond...class time will be like Las Vegas, What happens in class, stays in class!

Habeamus Diaconi

Peace,
vg

Promise of Obedience

Peace,
vg

Liturgy of the Word

The Odinandi look scared...but in a holy way!

Peace,
vg

It begins

The ordination is on. More later.

Peace,
vg

Deacon Bill and his new alb

The families gather

Like lambs before the slaughter

Here are a few of the ordinadi.

Christ the King

This is our Cathedral. Today, son of St. Matthew, King Cooper will be
Ordained. More to come

March for Life

As you know I went the March for Life in Atlanta week before last. Here are some photos of the March from Emily Conley. Thanks Emily.

Flight 1549

The NYT has a nice piece up with the audio from flight 1549. This is amazing to listen to, it even made me a bit emotional. Go check it out!

Thursday Math

Just in case you wanted to know how a binary counting system worked...here you go!

No disassemble huh?

They are getting ready, step by step.

PTC? Nope, Mundelein Illinois

Not seen in PTC for a long time. Ever seen snow like this on your golf
cart?

A letter to the New President.

Maybe you would like to send this (with your own edits of course) to the new President, let him know how you feel about life. If you do decide to send it to the President, drop a note in the comments so I can track about how many people decide to let the new President know how people of faith feel about he primacy of life in all its forms. This is a good way to dialogue with someone who does not share all our views on life. Also don't forget to pray for him as well. Peace.

UPDATE: I did not write this letter, I got it here.
_________________________________________________________________

The Honorable Barack H. Obama
President of the United States

President Obama:

As one who supports a consistent pro-life ethic, I wish to commend your efforts to reach out to those who do not agree with you on issues such as abortion. While I oppose Roe v. Wade and believe that it is wrong for the law not to protect the lives of the unborn, I have not failed to notice your calls for dialogue on this issue, and for both sides to attempt to reach common ground on ways to eliminate the circumstances that lead women to make this often-tragic choice.

However, some of your campaign promises, and your actions since taking office, are matters of grave concern to those of us who sincerely wish to work with you to reduce the abortion rate in the United States. In particular, your stated support of the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), your repeal of the Mexico City Policy, your promise to fund ethically questionable research on human embryos, and your failure to support legislation to aid pregnant women who choose not to abort may inhibit your ability to work effectively with the pro-life movement. I regret that this is the case, because pro-life Americans are eager to work with you. For this reason, I ask you to take the following actions:

1. Announce your support of the Pregnant Women Support Act (S.270), which was recently re-introduced by Senator Bob Casey Jr. (D-PA) and will soon be introduced in the House by Representative Lincoln Davis (D-TN). The PWSA seeks common-sense solutions to the abortion issue by, among other things, promoting adoption, helping pregnant teen mothers finish high school and college, providing shelter to pregnant women in abusive situations, establishing a national awareness campaign to inform women of options and resources available should they face an unplanned pregnancy, ensuring the availability of pre- and post-natal care by eliminating pregnancy as a pre-existing condition, and fully funding already-existing nutrition and health care programs for women and their children.
2. End your support of the Freedom of Choice Act, which will go beyond merely codifying Roe and alienate pro-life Americans by, among other things, requiring taxpayer funding of abortion and mandating that hospitals perform abortions, even when, as in the case of Catholic hospitals, to do so would be a violation of the sacred principles upon which they are founded. Ultimately, FOCA will increase, not decrease, the number of abortions in the United States.
3. Encourage Congress to fund research using adult, cord-blood, and amniotic stem cells, which carry none of the ethical problems involved with the destruction of human embryos and which, according to the world’s foremost researchers, offer the same versatility and the same hope for great medical progress as embryonic stem cells.

Mr. President, I believe that, despite our disagreements, there is much that can be accomplished by a respectful and productive dialogue between your Administration and the pro-life constituency. Particularly in the case of the Pregnant Women Support Act, we hope that you will be a firm advocate for measures that have been proven to reduce the abortion rate in states where they have been enacted; we also hope that, in case case of FOCA and embryonic stem cell research funding, you will take the time to educate yourself as to the appropriateness of such measures. In summary, sir, I ask that you consider your general promise to the American people, your promise to reject partisan “politics as usual” and focus on pragmatic, compassionate solutions to the problems that vex our age. In the case of the abortion debate, this would indeed be a change we need.

Onigiri

Stopped at a Japanese supermarket. Yeah!!!!

In Chicago

More later

Did this work on you?

Watch this video (nothing scary in it) and then answer the question. Just wondering if it worked on you. Thanks for being my human guinea pigs for this experiment. Report you answer in the comments, you don't have to sign your name to this comment.

Hello Montana

Hello Montana, I see you coming to my blog, but I have no idea who I know in Montana. Can you drop me a line and let me know, I have been racking my brain to figure it out but I don't know, so if you live in Montana and read my blog with some frequency could you help me out??? Oh, and you must live somewhere around Lewistown if that helps any...please??? Thanks

Funny stuff

So as you know we have been doing Strengths Finders here over the past few months in conjunctions with the survey we took with Gallup. Well my Signature Themes are Command, Adaptability, Woo, Empathy and Ideation. Since this post is not about me, enough about me, save to say I have put my Signature Themes right over there <<--------.

So we have a parishioner and one of her Signature Themes is Communication. She had to have her gall bladder removed the other day. I guess since she was at home and bored a bit, she wrote a press release for her surgery. She was really letting her Communication strength shine. I found it so humorous that I asked if I could publish it here, she agreed. I hope you get a chuckle out of this like I did. Enjoy.

(Fayetteville, GA, January 22, 2009)

Chris and Rhonda Boyle announce the birth of a gall bladder today, named Gallbonzo. Chris has nicknamed the little guy "Golly" but Rhonda prefers "the little bean." They have chosen to have a Closed Adoption and Gallbonzo has been delivered to the Pathology Department of Fayette-Piedmont Hospital and trust that "the little bean" will be properly tested before heading out to parts unknown.

Prior to the surgery, Rhonda's Anesthesiologist, in discussing the case, advised her that as of August 15th of this year -- when she marks the 50th anniversary of her birth -- that it would be "all downhill" from there. She soundly chastised him for the comment and advised him that he needed an "attitude adjustment". She was administering said adjustment in the operating room, right up until the Doctor wisely placed a mask over her nose and mouth in an effort to eliminate the chatter. She hopes that in spite of her abrupt silencing, he learned a lesson in doctor/patient relations and will immediately seek classes on Bedside Manners.

Renowned surgeon, Dr. John Goza took extra time and care navigating his surgical camera through a jungle of scar tissue from previous procedures. When he finally was able to grasp Gallbonzo from the abdominal cavity, he exclaimed, "Gotcha!"

The only near-fatal mistake of the entire procedure was Rhonda's lack of judgment in refusing anti-nausea medication, thinking that the natural remedy at home could overcome such massive quantities of anesthesia. Dr. MarySue Goza saved the day, but only after thoroughly rebuking the patient. "Hang dog" would be an appropriate description of Rhonda's facial expression after being advised by the alternate partner of the Goza medical team. She likened the advice to a "riot act", but humbly admitted responsibility for her lack of judgment.

Chris was overheard saying, "Well, let's just say we will not miss Golly, but wish him well." Rhonda likened the adventure to taking a direct, frontal hit to the gut by a 300-pound linebacker named Brutus. Pain medication, fortunately, was administered quickly by Chris before they left the hospital. As he takes his responsibilities seriously, an alarm is set to go off every 7.5 hours to ensure that before the bell tolls another dose can be taken, effectively reducing Rhonda's pain, whining, and his own suffering. "Belly-aching has taken on a whole new meaning," he said.

Another day or two of rest and recovery is in store before Rhonda hopes to be back involved in her numerous activities. She appreciates all prayers and is offering up any discomfort and suffering for those who are in need. She also hopes that all who read this documenting of the story will recognize that while appropriate and necessary, pain medications do carry some side effects.

End.

Vatican You Tube Channel

This will be big. I will be posting videos from here you can guarantee, if they start letting these videos be embedded.

30290

It is my zipcode at the church. Here is a great interactive map of zip codes. Go check out your area. Who knew that 3 covered Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. Really neat, enjoy!

Just in case you wanted to know

Now you do, enjoy! Click for a better view.

Bonnie Kaplan...

...is here as well.

More from St. Matthew

Some of the kids from OLM

March for life.

Loads of St. Matthew folk here at the March for Life. More later.

44

New President

Did I ever tell you that I met him? It was about two years ago, I was at the Catholic Social Ministry Gathering in DC. I was leaving to see some friends from CRS and as I was leaving the hotel when I saw Barack. He was glad handing a few folks. I know what this feels like to have a bunch of folks looking to talk to me and I could tell he was ready to head home...it was late that night close to 10:30PM. After greeting a bunch of folks (even then he was getting lots of press) he stopped with this kid. He must have talked to this kid for a solid five minutes. Not someone he knew but still he stopped after a full day of work. I was awestruck because he took so much time with the kid. He did not know the kid, but stopped and chatted him up like he was his nephew or something, I could not believe it. One thing my photo does not catch is the time Obama was stooped down to talk to the kid (it was noisy and it helped him hear the kid). He was genuinely interested in the kid and his life. He asked about his plans for the future and how important it was to stay in school and do well...etc! I was amazed with his care for the kid. Anyway after his conversation he ran for the door and I ducked outside to say hello. Needless to say his words to me were brief. When I shook his hand I also did that thing where you grab the arm as well, all I can say is he is really skinny. Even though he had on a jacket and coat, I knew I was grabbing a bony shoulder. Anyway that was my brush with 44. Let us keep him and all world leaders in our prayer, that they will work for peace and justice for all. Here is the prayer for the President from the Sacramentary.

God our Father,
all earthly powers must serve you.
Help our President Barack Obama
to fulfill his responsibilities worthily and well.
By honoring and striving to please you at all times,
may he secure peace and freedom
for the people entrusted to him.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

Great Video

Watch this and share it with others. Let's stand up for life!

Wow, just wow

Enjoy!

WOW click here to see a movie that I cannot embed and enjoy this one as well.

Day off

My day off and I am headed to Athens. Going to see a bit more if the
state. Stopped to find dime oriental food I like but can't seem to
find...then got derailed at a sushi buffet. Now with full tummy I am
off to athens. Peace

Sling shot!

Again a reason I don't watch local news, but then again these stories are out there and maybe I miss them, who knows...anyone care? This guy can shoot a sling shot! I love the south! Enjoy

The town rallies for a cat!

Awwww, ain't this cute? Incidentally this is why I don't watch local news, because of stories like this. I don't mind finding this stuff but local news is just chock a block with stuff like this, ewwww. Enjoy

What would your cats do?

Mine would run away and be mad for days.

Africa

Did you ever think it was this big? Maybe you grew up with a map that showed Greenland being about the same size as the continent of Africa. But as you can see Africa is HUGE. Enjoy

Sleeping on the plane

This 747 hotel would be some fun, although seems a bit expensive. I am sure for one night it would be worth it...it would certainly generate lots of stories.

My goatee

Maybe someday I will be able to grow a great mustache like this...alas probably not ever. Enjoy

Morons

That is these guys name, I wonder if they know the turtle guy from a few months ago?

Go look at the moon

It is beautiful!

Piedmont park

Just enjoying my day off and stopped by the park for a short walk.
It's a great park. Have a great day.

Munich Day Two

Here are the photos from Oktoberfest. It was a total blast, I really would like to go back and do it again, and again, and again, and...well you get the idea. Only next time with table reservations.



We had lots of fun eating and drinking, as you can see so did most people. I love the feel of a big crowd and everyone having fun and the food was great as well.



This was the Spatenbrau horse team. All the big tents (each tent sponsored by different breweries) had their own horse team that went around the grounds during the day. You could get right up next to the team and meet the people who care for the horses. There are some photos of other horse teams in the sideshow above.



Now of course after you have spent the time in the tents drinking and eating yourself to your happy place then you step outside to the midway and rides some rides...well you might but I did not think my stomach could handle it so I took a pass on the rides. You can tell I was feeling no pain in the video above with my sequel at the end of the video. I had no pain but enough sense not to ride the rides!




This is just a small taste of what the inside of the tents feel like at night. It was exponentially crazier than I could capture for you in a video but you get the idea. Keep in mind that there were probably 10 tents this size on the Oktoberfest grounds (all with bands and plenty of drunks) with loads of smaller places. The night we went the tents were so packed all we could do was find a seat outside. It was a great time and if you get the chance to go you should!

Resolutions

Just wondering if you have made and New Years resolutions. I have made two: 1. Complete at least one Crossword Puzzle each day & 2. Complete at least one Sudoku each day. Post your resolutions if you would like. Maybe I can play this Crossword building sometime??? Peace

Oops!

Well I totally forgot to post the photos from Munich, sorry! Without further ado...



In the photos you will see stuff from the Munich Free Tour that we took--which includes the Marian Column, the Cathedral. The self tour we took of the Englischer Garten after we had been to the Alte Pinakothek. You will also see the piece of the Berlin Wall that I was finally able to touch--since all the pieces in Berlin itself were untouchable. Also in there you will see a few other photos I took in Munich. Tomorrow I will put up the photos from Oktoberfest and the videos I took as well. Peace

A-ha!

Remember when I was in Japan and told you about the high cost of watermelons? Now I know why, they are really Godzilla Eggs!

Did you ever have to watch this?

This is a training video from the 80's. Any of you work for Wendy's? I think my brothers Tony and Andy did. This is exactly how I would like all learning to take place...through rap!

What the?

I have no idea. Enjoy

Brrr!

It is cold...I wish! This guy found a place to take a dip in the icy waters, you can see more photos of his merry group here. I want to try taking a dip in frozen lake or river sometime, wanna go with?

Animal love

I tell you this rat loves it some cat. Enjoy the interspecies adoration.

Can your fingers do this?

Just watch this, I can't believe some of the stuff people can do with their fingers...it is at times amazing. Also from the site I found this on, YouKu Buzz (a site for commentary in English about the Chinese video sharing site YouKu), and they say that the percentages are for the number of people who cannot do what is about to be demonstrated. Enjoy

A new hobby?

I think this should be my new hobby. I would totally love to try this kind of flying fun. I think this year I need to do a sky-dive and then graduate to this...man it looks like fun. You can watch this below or go here to see it full screen in your browser. Sweet

This could have been my room, kinda.

This poor guy really gets it from his cat. Ooti, my youngest, gets under the sheets and sleeps all night. Lilly is kinda like this cat, always prowling around and then needing attention. This poor guy needs to get his cat some kitty prozac or something. Enjoy!

Hate your neighbors?

Then get one of these roosters, they will really love you...not!

In Dallas...

...for the night.

Cousins in town

My cousin Gretchen and her husband Brett and kids stopped by for
breakfast on their way through OKC. Nice to see all sorts of family
while here.

Happy 2009

From Ol'Granny and Grandpa!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Have a Happy and Peaceful New Year!!!

Peace,
vg

Having fun...

...playing games!

Visiting priest

Look who stopped by for dinner...it's Fr. Matt.

The Galier group

Time for sopapillias...yummy!

Mexican food

Chilaquiles y cerveza. Me gusta mucho!

In OKC

I'm in the OK!

Kids

The local goats had some kids and they are C-U-T-E! Enjoy the few pictures I could get before they ran off.

Gladys Kramkowski

While up at Georgia National Cemetary for the burial of PV2 Joseph
Meadows we went by Gladys' grave. May she rest in peace!

Xmas...yuck! Part oh my look at this!

Xmas...yuck! Part XII, XII, XIV

I have left the best/worst for last...enjoy!



"Hey kids, lets hip-hop!" arghhhh!!!




Why do people even put these videos out there?

___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

And finally, The King comes singing for THE KING!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Merry Christmas to all...and to all, go to bed!!!

Xmas...yuck! Part XI

This is just too much to take...

Xmas...yuck! Part X

Nothing says Birth of the Savior like microwaves playing a familiar tune!

Xmas...yuck! Part IX

You know it must be xmas when The Hof is singing in German, you do of course know that The Hof is a huge celebrity in Germany. Behold!

Xmas...yuck! Part VIII

I am sure on a sugar and caffeine high this seems like a really cool idea...yeah, not so much.

Xmas...yuck! Part VII

Do you see where the slippery slope of xmas gets us??? Now India gets involved.

Christmas Decoration

After the 11am Mass we had a swarm of folks come in to help us with setting up our tree and other Christmas decorations. Many hands made light work for all who were are part of the setup. Thanks to all, and to those who will come and put the finishing touches on the Church and Narthex. Peace!