The Family Letter

Jesus is My Coach!

I have posted the occasional criticism like this before and gotten more back. I am, however, in the mood this week where upsetting a few people might be fun, so I'm ready.

A parishioner was flipping through a religious supply catalog today at the church and came across two things. The first you see here, the Jesus and the Last Supper Snow Globe. I chuckled. I was appalled. I was shocked. Yes, folks, for a limited time you too can have a figurine of Jesus safely stored in a glass globe. Better still, shake him up and it snows! Just like it must have that very first Christmas in Bethlehem.

And it gets better–and more appalling still. Jesus is My Coach In this case I started out as appalled. I moved on to amused, shocked, and just plain floored. Mostly appalled, though. I am still trying to figure out just why that is, but there it is.

Wow.

Offensive DVDs No More

Patrick (no link, he has no blog… hint, hint!) sent me this article this morning. At first I thought, "So what? Big deal! We've been bleeping people on the radio for years, how is this different?"

But then it dawned on me what a waste of time, talent, and technology this is. If people are offended by the content of certain movies then don't rent the movies. If you don't want your kids seeing certain scenes, lock up the DVD player and only watch them when they're out with friends. Knowing most teens they'll just rent the DVD at their friends' homes anyway.

Is this a new push for purity in our media? I doubt it. It's just another way our culture tries to deny how far down the road we've really gone.

Adventures with Applescript

Applescript, for those not in the know, is a scripting language that allows automation of tasks inside the Macintosh operating system. It seems to be quite flexible, very useful, and pretty easy to learn.

This week I decided to venture forth into the world of Applescript. I had a specific project in mind: I was sick of typing the HTML code every time I wanted to add a link to my blog. To do this, one has to type: <A HREF="http://www.thewebsitehere.com" target="_blank">Link</A> Personally, I find this a pain in the rear.

Jane has informed me that Blogger does this for you, if you use a browser other than Safari. Heather tells me that there is blogging software that has this feature. I checked both options, though, and neither includes the target="_blank" piece (forces the link to open in a new window). Also, I happen to like Safari, and am not fond of Netscape and IE. (I wish Blogger would allow Safari users out of "basic" mode, but so far they don't seem inclined to fix this.)

So I wrote a little Applescript. It takes whatever is in the clipboard (a URL, ideally) and turns it into a link after asking what you would like to call that link. So all you do is copy a URL into clipboard, run the app, and paste your link into the blog. It's working great for me.

I realize that this reinvents the wheel, but it still gives me a warm feeling because I knew no Applescript when I started this project! It also fixes a problem, and instead of downloading the fix I was able to do it all by myself.

Jerry

While skating today I had a neat encounter. I was headed north from Western Reserve Road back towards the Metroparks farm (see PDF in post below this one). I saw what I thought was someone sitting on the ground next to the path resting. Turns out it was a young kid (no more than probably five, I'm guessing). He lived in the house just beyond the trail. He had a small jar with ice-water in it and some cups. As I passed, he said, "Hey, want some water." I didn't have any cash on me, and I said I couldn't pay him. He said that was okay. After fooling with the spigot for a bit he finally took the top off and dipped me out some water. As I drank, we chatted. Really bright kid, and friendly. His dad and older brother were nearby, so I figured it was okay to converse. When I finished, I asked him if he could throw away the cup for me, and he agreed. We shook hands, introduced ourselves, and I skated off.

His name is Jerry (or Gerry). I have his address, having driven by the place on the way home (not on the way, but I wanted to find it). I think I'll send him a thank you card.

Okay, yes, it's been a while. But I'm not wasting space on that, so here is a simple: Sorry.

Moving on then. I so see that it's been almost a month, and what a month! As you may surmise I survived Holy Week. If one more person had said, "Oh, wow, this is your first Holy Week!" I might have done something rash, but fortunately for everyone they stopped just short of my limit. This is hardly my first Holy Week. Perhaps as a priest, yes, but it wasn't too much different than the last 30 or so. Granted, this is the first time I was presiding at Eucharist on Maundy Thursday, preaching on Good Friday and the Easter Vigil, and so on, but still. Usually I attend all the services. This time I did the same.

I don't know if anyone is interested in the way St. John's, Sharon, PA, does Holy Week. If so, ask. Suffice to say for now that it wasn't too much different than you would expect in a somewhat higher church church. The high/low points for me (I'll let you guess which were which): Preaching at a baptism, first communion for two 2nd graders, dropping the curtain at the Vigil, changing or adding to a couple of St. John's customs… Yep, that about covers it. If you want more details, just ask.

I did, fortunately, get two days off right after Easter, which helped to balance things. I went up to Erie r