The Triumph of Orthodoxy over Orthopraxy, Part II

Long overdue, I know. I have started and stopped more than once because I want to get this right and I find that I am doing more venting and ranting that right writing. Plus I'm getting very sensitive to the fact that my theology education ended after a whopping two undergrad courses at St. Mary's in San Antonio. One of which was nothing more than a Catholic version of Warm Fuzzies 101.

For proper disclosure, please note my previous post.
OK, let's be clear, orthodoxy ain't such a bad thing. It implies, in this context, right theology, true theology, or a pure belief. Without it, orthopraxy dissolves into "what feels right," or trial-and-error outcome. For instance orthodoxy is what vouchsafes for us that Scripture is true, inerrant, and the very Word of God, so this shouldn't be construed as a diatribe against dogma or doctrines. Rather it's about balance. Orthodoxy without orthopraxy becomes a dry religion, a Holy Algebra (Professor X referred to a "Jesus Logarithm" espoused by some Baptist seminary professors in a conversation a while back, so it's not just a Catholic phenomenon). Many folks accuse Catholicism of being a dead ritual instead of an experience with the Living God, and I think that they are seeing a flaw. Not to the degree of the accusation, but definitely a flaw.

In Catholic circles, I really see this in the way folks deal with teenagers. I can't say that I'm the expert that I used to think I was on Youth Culture, but I know better than to expect random kids at a Catholic Church to give a rat's patootie about Transubstantiation vs. Consubstantiation, how to pray the Angelus, or who the Theotokos refers to and how it defends against Nestorianism. And while all these things are important, they really are, they are all aspects of finer points of theology and history. None of them are vital for salvation. All of them lead adults to lament "But these kids don't know their Faith." Of course they don't. Why should they? Until they see that there's a value to them, there's no reason for them to invest themselves. Calculus is important as well, it's how we design wings that keep aircraft aloft and most kids don't know which side of the wing is the leading edge. Not unless you tell them that they have to design a wing to keep themselves aloft does calculus take on a life-changing dimension. Sometimes it's a matter of Catholicism being a cultural value instead of a living relationship with God. And for parents who have grown up "in the faith" but never invested themselves into the call that God has for them, never sensed what they were rescued from, there's little zeal.

I see it in many Catholic's attitudes toward Protestant ideas. When discussing Religious Education materials with folks as a Youth Minister, I was questioned over using Group Publishing, a Non-Denominational Christian Publisher. "That's not Catholic, can we do that?" While it's important to note that one's understanding and formation would be stunted if it were restricted to the Group Active curriculum (circa 1994), there was the understanding that the only place to find Authentically Catholic Theology of Any Sort is in something from a Catholic Publishing House. I know there's always a danger of a Catholic-Evangelical-Fundamentalist syncretism, it's something to look for, but when looking at what Group put out there vs. what certain Catholic publishing house put out at that time, it was no contest. Group had their act together. RCL, Silver Burdett Ginn, and Benziger (they're all the same house now) just didn't. Sadlier didn't. St. Mary's Press didn't. All of them had come from the wrong paradigm. They took a Catholic School text book and tried to shoe-horn it into a one-hour per week format. It still ends up being a school experience. It rarely ends up being life-changing. Kids might learn the trappings and accoutrement of faith, but somehow meeting the Author of Faith was always something left for those "primary catechists," or, as I like to call them, "parents. " Now I've been out of YM and RE for a while so to be fair, maybe stuff has changed a bit. I still doubt it. Something that was getting traction when I was leaving YM was the idea that "Our curriculum is now REALLY teaching the Catechism, better than yours, in fact." And while they could now link back their theology to specific paragraphs in the Catechism, they still had a sucky product. It was based around the idea of kids getting together and reading. "How does that make you feel?" "Uhhh, like I'm in school." Orthodoxy was catered to, Orthopraxy is ignored.

Side note -- To create a successful program, you don't have to water anything down, you don't have to make it X-TREME!!!! You just have to make it authentic, authentic to the truths of Faith, and authentic to your own story and to the story of everyone involved. Don't use a book, if you can. If you need to, send them home with a book, and a good one at that.(If that sounds a bit like Thomas Groome, that's probably true to form, although his textbooks fell into the same trap and he's a bit of a nutter Catholic. A case for Orthopraxy screaming for Orthodoxy if you ask me.)

Autism: It's your Mom's fault.

Austim linked to parent's schizophrenia, depression, personality disorders.

The oldest stereotype in Psychology is, "It's all you mother's fault." They used to blame ADD on "infant head trauma." Yeah, your mom dropped you on your head when you were a baby, it's her fault. "Tell me about yur mudder," in a thick German accent is about as stereotypical psycho-babble as you can get. Not that they ain't right on this, just that Autism technically requires a diagnosis at a young age (like < 3?). So that means that when parents are asking "Why is this happening to our child," doctors are going to say "Well, tell me about your depression/personality disorder. Do you hear voices in your head? Because this Autism, it's all your fault."

Dumb Criminals live in Fort Worth

Sometimes I can't believe how dumb some folks are. A guy in Ft. Worth tried to write a check for 360 BILLION dollars. At least he was aiming high. Billion. Wow. It wasn't his check either. Dumb guy.

Muenster Rally

Joseph and I went out to the Muenster rally this past weekend.  It's a metric century with some of the biggest hills in North Texas.  One of the other riders described it as "Death by Rollers."  Joseph and I chickened out and hit the 65k route, about 40 miles.  We hit too many rest stops.  Had to hit the 2nd one, I was running low on water, we had drank out of my 2nd on the way there.  Had to hit the 3rd, I needed to take a "natural break."  But the time we hit the 4th, Joseph had to go.  ~1500+ riders, folks out on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere cheering you on, volunteers aplenty.

Then afterwards, we hit the Germanfest.  Nice, great German food.  Brats, sausage, beets, red cabbage, beans, potatoes done a half-dozen different ways, and kraut.  One stand (from a local German restaurant) had an all-you-can-fit-on-your-plate meal priced the same as the others, but the potatoes looked really good.  I had a ton of kraut on top of the potatoes, the green beans, the pinto beans.  The juices dripped down over everything.  Add a bit of horseradish and I was in heaven.  OK, the angels were looking a bit heavy.  I don't remember seeing so many chins on a cherub before.  They had a "Beer Garden" open for the rally riders and the Fun Run participants.  Basically, it's a nice field under some shade trees away from most all of the noise.  They rope it off and throw out a bunch of hay bales for chairs.  A perfect place to sit down and enjoy your food and beverage.

Rally riders get two beers at the Germanfest.  After enjoying one with my meal, I wasn't feeling that the second would go down so well, so I started to think about who would enjoy my second beer ticket.  Finally I remembered that a good friend of mine, Eric, a guy I was in a band with, lives in Muenster, and he would probably be at the Germanfest.  Of course he was, and so a couple of text messages later, we were sitting down in the music tent watching his nephew play the accordion.  Very German accordion at that.  They were teenagers who put quite a bit of effort into it, very nice guys.  The called themselves The Happy Wanderers, I think a reference to the Shmenge Brothers.  When they started the Chicken Dance, folks were running, yes running out to dance on the floor.  Senior citizens, kids, and all ages in between.  Good times.  Finally we made our way out, with three strudel in tow, of course.  Mmmm... Cheese strudel.  I'm bringing up an apple strudel to work tomorrow.  Those things are awesome.

Curly-headed kids

OK, I have curly hair, long brown curly hair. Probably too much of it, but I didn't notice the humor of our Lord quite until we had Isabel, our fifth child. All the ones before her have straight hair. Straight blond hair. It didn't stand out until I saw her curls.

Welcome Papa!

Not that he'll ever read this, but welcome Your Holiness. Please enjoy the hospitality that we offer. Take some time to re-tell us the story of Christ and how it applies to us today. Encourage us in our faith and remind of us of the Hope we have in Him, even in dark times. We appreciate your time and attention. We're thankful that you're here and we hope you enjoy a safe stay. Please forgive us if you find folks among us who are taking your visit as an opportunity to point the spotlight at themselves. Please forgive us if you find among us people who are rude. It's a big family here, and every family has their black sheep. I feel that your time may be limited here, in America, and as our Papa, but I hope that you make wonderful memories and leave a lasting impression.

TBi Race weekend

Lots of fun this last weekend. Our cycling team, Team Bicycles Inc., had their annual race. It's to raise money for the team's expenses (mainly in the form of rider/racer support) and also to raise money for a fund to honor a former Jr. rider who passed away last September. So the Juniors were all racing and all the other club members were volunteering. I worked as an official both days.
We drove out to Lake Mineral Wells State Park on Friday night to camp out. OK, we took the back two seats out of the minivan and threw in an air mattress and some sleeping bags. No tents, so maybe it wasn't quite camping. When we got there, we discovered that our new air mattress only inflated with the help of an electrical outlet, AC. Not the DC cigarette lighter that we had on the minivan. So we ended up on a airless air mattress the first night. It was way cold. Low 30's by morning. We had to get up around 5 to get out to the race.
Saturday was a 24-mile loop out by Possum Kingdom Lake with big hills on mile 12 and 16. It was a really cold morning but a really nice day. Riding in the follow car is fun, you get to watch the race, to encourage the racers, to call them on fouls. We had plenty of volunteers and a good group of racers (a little over 300). In my son's race, Joseph held on up the last big hill and then took a breather. That's when the guy in front of him took off. He finished 4th out of seven starters, but he raced well and finished strong. Of course, five of those seven were TBi Jr's. One of them, Alex, had his rear derailleur buckle on him in the middle of the race. He ended up getting a ride back in. Fortunately we had a spare and his dad got them swapped out for the next day's race.
Sunday we got up earlier, we were going to have a short prayer service at 6 AM to remember Ivan. Joseph read some scripture (1 Cor 9:24-27, Heb 12:1-6 as I recall) and I prayed. I still miss Ivan. And I still feel guilty when I don't miss Ivan. That's grief for you, I guess. The only folks there were the guy who originally suggested having the service (the promoter of the race and the team president), myself, Joseph (who raced with Ivan), and someone else who was to lead us in singing. I there more for the fact that I'm the closest thing the group has to an minister, even though I will probably never be ordained.
Sunday's races were fun. The weather was beautiful, the course included a locally famous climb, the mile-long Cherry Pie Hill, and the racers were all in good form. Joseph ended up touching wheels with one of his teammates about 5-8 miles into the race. Usually that ends up with someone sliding out and nursing road rash for a couple of weeks. Fortunately, everyone stayed upright, but Joseph broke two spokes on his rear wheel.
The only wheel in the follow truck didn't match his, 10-speed vs. 9-speed. Bummer for him, his race was over. He was in good spirits when I saw him at the end. Like Saturday, his team finished 1-2-3, so he was pleased. Having his wheel busted was just one of those things. Memo to self: after you get Joseph's wheel fixed, get him a set of backup wheels, 9-speed.
A wonderful weekend. I'm glad it's over so I can get back to the office and rest!

And you thought having six kids was tough!

I just got a link to a youtube video that some buds from my college days made.  They have NINE kids and they are in a Upromise contest to show why they need funds for college.  Playing up the Brady theme to the hilt, it's really funny.  

The dad taught me amazing stuff about how to play the guitar and he had this wonderful voice.  A really humble guy as well.  He and his wife were really involved in the Catholic Student Center at Texas A&M and I think he still works in that vicinity.  For that alone I am envious.  The last I heard, she taught at the local Catholic School before she got the homeschooling bug.  If you care to, vote early and vote often.  Just for the next two weeks.  It looks like you have to register, for which I am eternally sorrowful.  If you can't vote for them, then please pray for their welfare.

Ride for Heroes

OK, this past Saturday was the Ride for Heroes locally, and now that I have a bike back Ah'm in the Rally Mood, folks.  So when I went to sign up for it last weekend, I was a bit surprised when my lady says "Why don't we all sign up?"  She doesn't have a bike.  Or, I should say "didn't."  We bought her a bike on Wednesday or Thursday.  Not a true roadbike, more like a comfort bike.  It's a Specialized Crossroads Elite.  Dang, I wish I had gotten it for Eddy's price.  I think it was closer to $399.  But then you add shorts, a helmet, some tights and a long sleeve jersey and all of the sudden you're talking about $550.  Oh well, the price we pay to do things with our spouse and kids.  This was something that the whole family could do, right?  Just get a trailer for the babies.  Oh, trailer.  We don't have one.  So after a couple of calls for ones on Craigslist didn't pan out, we borrowed one from a friend.  So all of the big kids have bikes (our kids are aged 13, 10, 8, 6, 2, 1).  We just have to get them all there.  OK, even with the Suburban and the hitch rack, we have to take two vehicles.  So we loaded up the minivan with five bikes, put the wife's bike on the hitch rack, and fit the trailer in the Suburban's trunk.  Joseph (13) and I were going to do the 62 mile rally (not as hard as it sounds, there's a rest stop with food and drink every 10-12 miles) and everyone else was going to do the 8 mile rally.  The 62-miler started at 7:30 AM and the 8-miler started at 8:30.  We woke up late (it's a 45 minute drive with no traffic), so we reassessed the situation and tried to make it by 8:00 for the 40-miler instead.  About 15 minutes into our drive we had to turn back to get all the water bottles that we had left in the fridge.  All told, we got there at 8:20.  After a quick potty break, we lined up for the ride.  All the rides had the same route for the first 5-6 miles, so Joseph and I figured we would veer off at the appropriate time for the 40 and Kim would lead the herd of little ones back through the 8.  Jacob(6)  was stoked.  He was looking forward to doing this with his siblings and with me.  Allison(8) was not.  It was too cold for her liking, too early, and she didn't feel comfortable with the hand-brakes on her mountain bike.  After a mile, we had left them behind, cruising at an amazing speed of 8.4 mph.  Well, that was about as fast ask Jacob could coax those 16-in wheels.  After about fifteen minutes, Allison had had enough.  Kim called me to inform me that she had three crying girls and that they were turning back.  So that left me with Joseph (13) on a road bike and capable of doing the 40, Emily (10) on an old Peugeot Mixte that weighs 30 lbs. and capable of being dragged through the 20 maybe, and Jacob on a 16-in. wheel Wal-Mart ride, not capable of going farther than the 8.  So we stayed with the 8-miler.  Joseph was not pleased at first.  He did get over it as he got the chance to have fun with Jacob.  In fact, they all enjoyed the heck out of themselves.  I was beaten down by the financial side of it and the fact that I could have just done the regular Saturday Shop ride and gotten in 50.  So we spent $110 on rally fees, $500 on the bike + helmet + shorts + something else.  Another $150 in other clothes (the shop had winter gear on 75% off!!) plus 65 miles of gas for two cars, and all I got was 8 miles.  But reflecting on it, they were exquisite miles.  They were miles that will last a lifetime in one little six year-old's mind.  That was the first time he got to ride a rally with his Dad and his older brother.  Plus he beat another kid on a similar bike.  You go Jakie.  You rock.  You made even a short, terribly expensive ride one of the best days ever.

OK, this scares me.

So if you're a nominal Muslim with an Islamic name in Italy, and a prominent one at that, say you work as an editor of a national newspaper. Then you discover that you want to convert, do you have to ask the Pope to baptize you in front of EVERYONE? Especially when some cardinals just met with some Muslim scholars earlier this month to set up a kind of 'Catholic-Muslim Forum' later this year? I mean come on, just a bit cheeky, eh?

The real issue at play here is that it's considered regrettable when a Catholic converts to Islam. People might even have genuine concerns for that convert's soul. But when a Muslim gets baptized on international TV, expect a riot. While the convert may be something of a media hog, I do hope and pray that this is not a case of someone using the Church (and a sacrament) to futhur their own personal agenda.

Me boy-o is peeved today.

Joseph has been slacking on cycling lately. Not terribly, just not really, really focussed. And this weekend he got slapped. It's a stage race, so two road races and a time trial (like those triathlons). In the first road race, he got popped and then one of his team mates, a year younger and in his first race, dropped back and finished with Joseph. He and his teammate finished with their hands held up. Kinda dorky unless you finish 1st and 2nd, not 6th and 7th out of 12. Well, his new team mate then promptly beats him by 5 seconds in the time trial and then trounces him in the second road race. Joseph then made a beeline for the Suburban to hide away. He was hurt and embarrassed. I feel for him. He made great (and I mean huge) strides last year but he just hasn't been able to maintain that rate of improvement. On the way home he came out of his shell a bit. I told him that he needs to remember his painful moments and use them as motivation. Remember that you don't want to feel like this again. And that needs to be something to hold on to, not just at the next race, but for a year of training. He was miffed that he couldn't get on the trainer last night after a late dinner. He might very well be on it right now.

Leader Bikes -- rant warning!

OK, so I found a crack in my bike frame about a month or so ago.  The company who makes the frame says, OK, ship it to us at your cost and we'll decide if we're going to warranty it.  So I take it to my LBS (local bike shop) and have them strip off all the parts and ship it to Cali.  When they get it, they finally said, OK, we'll warranty it, send us $25 bucks to ship a replacement frame back.  So I paypal them that $$ plus some more for some more equipment.  Then a couple of weeks ago, they email me on a Friday for the shipping address.  I emailed them back on Monday.  That was Feb. 25th.  Yesterday, March 4th, I forwarded the original email to them again, asking to see where the frame is.  That's a bit over a week from the first email.  It was late in the afternoon, I figured I'd get called back today.  I call them at 11 AM TX time, 9 AM in Cali.  They say, ya know, the guys in shipping aren't here til 11, call back after that, also try emailing it to this other address.  So I forward it to the other address and call again at 3:30 TX time.  They say, well, I'll call those shipping guys and see what we can do.  If they don't call you in one or two hours, call me back.  I wait until 6 TX time and call again, because there hasn't been an email back.  I left a message and then at 7 or so, I got a call back.  It's someone from Leader saying "uhm, those shipping guys really need to get on the stick."  While I'm on the phone with him, someone else from Leader calls and leaves a voice mail.  It's the shipping guy "Well, I need your shipping address.  If I don't have it, I can't ship it."  Of course, that's the same shipping address that I emailed him on Feb. 25th, and again on March 4th, and again today.  He says he doesn't have it.  "The email here in shipping is different."  Crap.  He says he's sorry and that he'll throw in a T-shirt!!!!  Yup, they think I'm so in love with them that I'm going to advertise for them.  It gets shipped tomorrow.  Finally. Grrrr.  I was going to buy another frame, fork, and headset from them for Joseph, he's out-growing his.  I was even thinking of trying to buy several more for the Jr team.  Not now.  Never again.  I'm going back to the LBS.  If I had bought a bike from there and had this issue, it would have been taken care of already and it would have been no $$ out of my pocket.  Sorry Leader, I think I'm going to have to get a SpecialEd for Joseph.  Maybe a Lemond.  Lord have mercy on my soul, it may even be a Trek.

Update:  I just want to point out that the current frames all have a much more substantial rear drop out, which was where my initial frame failed.  I don't see the new designs being prone to cracks.

The First Week of a Month of Races

We had two races this weekend down in Austin. There have been a few races already this year, but these are considered the opener for the season. They were also the first to have two Junior categories. One of them is Jr. Open (anyone from 10 to 18 is welcome), and the other was 10 -14. The first race starts and ends in Walburg, TX, north of Austin. The guys did a 22 mile loop. It has the reputation for being cold and windy, but Saturday it was just windy. I drove one of the other racers down from Joseph's team and we talked strategy quite a bit. They had three 14 year-olds this weekend from TBi. One is a pretty fair sprinter, one is a nice climber and an all-around good rider, and Joseph, who still hasn't found his niche yet. We also knew that there were two GS Tenzing registered. TBi is an open team, meaning anyone who pays the club fee and shows up to race gets to put on the jersey. Tenzing is by invitation only. Don't get me wrong, that doesn't make them elitist. These guys are great guys. It just means that they mean business. And they are good. One of them has been to nationals before and his dad is a professional cycling coach. Nice guy, too. So our strategy was to hang with the Tenzing riders, shelter the sprinter, and get him to the end ready to sprint. That worked out great and he got second, just behind the coach's son. Another rider from San Antonio got third. He was alone off the front for much of the race which is a bad thing for a racer. By the end, he didn't have enough to out-sprint the competition. With a little shelter, and maybe some teammates, he might have taken first. Our all-arounder got 4th and Joseph got 7th. He and another guy were caught behind a truck driving through the course. For safety, the riders know that they can't pass a car, so they just rode right behind the truck, no sprint. Joseph might have caught 6th if not for the truck. We had camped overnight and had a great time. Nice, chilly weather. Teammates and friends. Saturday night spaghetti. Jacob's earlier queasiness is gone. Good times.

Sunday AM, we get up. The race is in the same park that we slept in. I had to register Joseph and a friend. No cost. Thanks Team Hotel San Jose. The race there was only 12 miles, but it had hills. Joseph isn't so good with hills. Our all-arounder is pretty good with hills. Our sprinter is ok. So they take off. The pack is really big for this age group. I think it was 23 to 26. The Tenzing guys cover every attack. We cover all their attacks. Joseph has a bad start and can't fight his way back, he's off the back and comes in 11th. Our sprinter and all arounder both keep with the Tenzing guys. The San Antonio racer wrecks. Our sprinter catches the coach's son at the line and gets 1st. Our all arounder catches the other Tenzing racer napping and nips 3rd. A very good race. These guys are getting some tactics and using them. Joseph is down though. He expected to do better, to last with the pack longer. I think it just wasn't his day.
Also, due to some serendipitous circumstances, my folks are in the general area and come see Joseph race. Afterwards we join them for lunch for my parent's 40th wedding anniversary. Nice day. The ride home takes quite a while and everyone sleeps but me. Next weekend is another race across the river from the park. The weekend after that I'm officiating some HS races in FW and in Collin County, and the weekend after that is a big stage race in Fayetteville, TX. Fun fun fun.

Yuck, I knew and worked with this guy

Magaldi Confirms he is HIV Positive

Fr. Phil Magaldi is back in the news. For two years I was Youth Minister at the same parish. He had some run ins with the law before he came from Rhode Island down to TX, and he spoke of them from time to time. From his mouth, it was all a misunderstanding and a failure on his part to keep proper books, or actually, to keep any record of any parish finances. But nothing was ever said about the whole Claus von Bulow thing. Creepy. Anyway, he also came under fire from a guy back in the NE who was trying to sue him for sexual abuse. He vehemently denied that there was anything to it and that the accuser was just a ne'er-do-well looking for money. In the end, the case was dropped. (Fr. Phil was extremely excited about that outcome, "thrown out!" he would say.) Apparently the ne'er-do-well really was a ne'er-do-well, although recent info released about Fr. Phil seems to indicate that the accuser may have had merit, and of course that might be the reason that the accuser had so many issues. I think the poor guy passed away.
I never heard about all nasty stuff Fr. Phil's been accused of while I was there. I only saw him as an only child who had been the "chosen one" in his family all his life. He never had any one to dress him down in life, to keep him honest, so to speak. His mother adored him. Most people he met adored him as an extremely gregarious priest and a fine homilist. He never seemed to have an internal filter on what he did or said. I don't think he ever allowed for the concept that he might do something wrong or hold an incorrect opinion. He wasn't overbearing in my dealings with him, though, just not cautious. I was asked to leave in September of 2000 and I have a vague recollection of the specifics of him leaving in '99. I seem to recall him passing it off as retiring to take care of his elderly mother. He went downhill pretty fast physically after she passed away. The last few years, I'd see him at Mass, sitting in the back, in plain clothes, mumbling to himself. He was so very obviously out of it. Some folks from the church were shuttling him back and forth, he was someone in need of care.

Honestly, I'm glad I knew him. He was always half of the example of why I wanted to have a big family. I would contrast him with a friend who was the 5th of 12 and it was so obvious who was well-adjusted and who was spoiled. Not that having one kid means they grow up and do nasty things, that's not my point. He just seemed to be the extreme in that direction. I pray that he finds forgiveness for his crimes, and that any victims find some kind of closure and healing.

Leader Bikes have Spoken!!

After much waiting, I got a call from Leader Bikes yesterday. They are the makers of my original bike frame, RIP. They decided to warranty the frame and as soon as I pay the $25 for shipping, I can get my replacement frame sent back here to Texas, where it belongs. It's not quite the same frame, so no more aero tubing, but from what I heard, it's not as prone to road chatter. Hopefully it will work just fine. I'm a bit miffed about the shipping cost, just because originally I was told that they would eat it, but I understand that they are already eating the cost of a new frame. Leader did a good job with keeping in contact with me. I originally called when the whole office was out for an employee's wedding. The next day I called them back and they ended up sending me an email independently shortly after I got off the phone. They followed up with another email later in the week. I called them several times to check on the frame and they had no idea where it was on Monday, but yesterday, Wednesday, they had found it and decided to warranty it.
That's the problem. They warrantied it. Now I'm going to pay $25 to ship it back. I owe the shop for shipping it over (probably like $40) and then I have to pay to get it set up (probably another $50). So $115 total to replace a frame I bought for $109, and that included shipping. I know, wah wah wah. See, if they hadn't warrantied it, I could have lobbied to buy that nice Ti/Carbon frame that the shop loaned me. Now I still have a shot, but I don't think I can afford as much for it as it's worth. Especially because I still have to pay for all the shipping regardless. OK, enough whining. I don't even know that the frame is available. I wouldn't sell it if I had the choice. I'm going to be able to get back to riding next month. That's all that counts, right?

Baptist woes in FW

(Note, I don't normally comment on non-Catholic or specifically Baptist churches, but my buddy Professor X normally does, especially on stuff in our backyard. I was going to email this to him but I can't seem to find his addy anywhere so I'm posting on it as best I can. I'm sure he'll have better, more insightful commentary to follow.)

There's this fairly sizable Baptist church in FW that's having issues with their pastor. No, he didn't do something immoral or even illegal. He made some choices that showed he was a moderate, not a conservative. To be fair, the church doesn't seem to be associated with the Southern Baptist Convention ("Broadway is not subservient to any state or national convention or organization"). In fact, in the latest church newsletter, the pastor speaks of a conference called the "Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant" in Atlanta that he missed. Speakers included Tony Campolo (American Baptist, quite green and quite service and justice oriented) and Sen. Charles Grassley, (small world, ain't it, Prof X?) who you should recognize as the Senator who's hitting up Benny Hinn and Creflo Dollar for financial records. Keynote was from former Pres. Jimmy Carter (one of my first memories was my folks gathered around the kitchen table with a down cast look on their faces, like they'd been to a funeral. That was the day that Jimmy Carter was elected.). OK, so the church is not the same kind of Southern Baptist church that gets all the press in TX and has all the stereotypes associated with that. It's an independent historically Baptist church that one blogger who attends defines as "extremely moderate/liberal." The big issues listed in the article are 1) the deacons made a concession for gay couples in the congregation, allowing them to be in the church directory, but only in group shots, not as a couple in the family listing, and 2) he started a homeless program that some (maybe most) in the congregation didn't support or actively opposed, and 3) that he was lenient on having registered sex offenders attend church functions. Poking around, I was able to find some blogging on the "progressive/moderate" side, as well as some statements from the folks who want to oust the pastor. Please note that I really don't have a side in this issue. I'm Catholic, so to me I use quotes around some titles to show that I'm lifting them from other places and don't see any connotations attached. I dunno, do you think this is a matter of the pastor crossing a line and getting too liberal? Or maybe just a group of conservative parishioners who are making themselves known? Who moved, the pastor or the congregation? So, as Professor X would say, what do you think?

Grace is smooth...

So I'm riding this other guy's bike frame, and I don't know how to describe it to folks who don't ride. Parts of this frame are carbon fiber where mine had been aluminum. So any crack in the road, the aluminum frame would transmit that kick up to my backside. But on the carbon frame, it was more of a mumble than a kick. Some parts of some roads were rough and the old aluminum frame would really transmit a lot of chatter to my feet, hands, and backside, but on this, it was like they didn't exist. I was intimidated when I got to the base of Cockrell Hill, but when I got to the top, I was a bit disappointed. I had expected steeper or longer or just plain more. I think that it was easier because I was on the much lighter frame. After all those miles, it makes a difference, it really does. I met the owner at the lunch stop and told him that riding his frame was "like buttah," to which he asked "Did you slice it up and eat it?"
I haven't heard anything about my busted frame yet. I called the outfit in Cali on Friday and yesterday. They said they haven't seen it. They also pointed out that there might be an issue if Fed Ex was the shipper. They tend to arrive before the place opens and leave packages with random neighbors at the little industrial park. I guess I have to check at the shop. I'm kind of hoping that a) the place will say "sorry, no warranty, you want a cheap frame for cheaper?" and b) the owner of the really cool titanium and carbon frame will be in the mood to sell his to me. If all those stars align, then I could save the costs of buying a cheap frame and shipping it here and getting all my components swapped over and invest those into this super duper frame. I'm thinking that if I could get it for $800, it would be a steal, but it's about all I could afford, and that's only because Uncle Sam is going to pay me plenty in taxes on the same day I get my yearly bonus. Right now I'm flat broke. Ah well, it's just money.

Grace so totally rocks

So last night, I get a PM from a guy on the Team Bikes Inc forum. He's someone who used to race and has been known to help out some Jr's with lots of gear. I had posted that I wouldn't be able to ride on Super Bowl Sunday and he had asked me on the forum what size frame I ride. In the PM he said that I needed to call him ASAP about my bike frame. So I called him and he asked me if the only reason I'm not riding on Sunday is because my frame is busted. I confirmed that, so he said that he had spoken with Scott (who I find out owns the shop) and got me a loaner frame. The shop moved over my old components today. I'm going to the shop right now to pick up the bike after a quick fix. And it's not just any beater frame. It's a Titanium/Carbon frame that literally makes me salivate.


My frame is on its way to Cali right now. Hopefully they will warranty it and send me a new one. Still, I hope I can give back the Ti/Carbon beauty. I also hope it doesn't have a weight limit.

It's those tiny little things that hurt the worst

Ok, my bike is just a possession. It's only a thing. I accept that. I am not made to worship things, I am made to worship Him.  And I'm totally bummed because my bike is busted. I was going to go on the Saturday Shop Ride yesterday morning. But I slept late. So I pulled the bike into the sunroom and set it up on the trainer and that's when I saw it. A crack, a tiny crack that goes straight through a small part of the frame. It's right where the rear wheel bolts on. 

A testament to the fact that I am a big, heavy guy who pedals really hard to get up hills. I took it to the shop and asked about it. I just had it in the shop last week and though that they had messed it up, but no, if they had, the crack would have been different than it was. I can't ride it until it gets replaced. The frame is made from aluminum and once aluminum bends or breaks, you can't weld it back. It's busted. It's flat busted. And that means that I can't ride.  Riding on this, I would risk a catastrophic crash, or I might just goof up some of my other components by having all the stresses wrong.  I don't miss the bike, I miss riding. The bike is just the means. And for me, as funny as it sounds, I think of it something akin to worship. I float and I suffer. I offer my efforts and taste the rewards of my relationship.
So the frame maker has a warranty program. I think that, with a couple more pictures, I could get a new one sent out. Then I could ride again.  Maybe next week.

Ice Cycling

For those, ok, for you, Professor X, who has been waiting for me to continue my Orthodoxy vs Orthopraxy blogging, I'm working on it when I can. I'm just not satisfied that I have some posts worth publishing yet.

Yesterday, I rode my bike in to work. It was below freezing and it felt like skiing. Wind in my face, the urge to blow my nose every two minutes. The roads were clear of any ice and the sun came out every now and then, so it wasn't too bad. It felt cold at first but I started to warm up about ten minutes into the ride. What was I wearing that I could cycle in freezing temps? A light, silk weight DuoDry shirt > a thicker, long sleeved version of # 1 > jersey > wind-vest. I added arm warmers and gloves and liners. For my legs I had leg warmers, no not the kind from Flashdance, like these ones from Specialized. Then I had on a set of thermal bib knickers. Most folks would wear leg warmers with standard shorts or bib knickers, not both, but I wanted to keep the blood going to my toes as warm as possible. I had on some really warm shoe covers and wool socks. My toes did get chilly. The best part? Pulling ice out of my beard when I finished.

The triumph of Orthodoxy over Orthopraxy, part one, personal perspectives and bias

So I've been a Catholic all my life. I've also been involved with other Christian traditions (or "ecclesial communities") over the years. I went to Young Life and some Baptist events as a teen. I worked with Young Life for five or six years through college and into my career as a Catholic Youth Minister. And my family attend a Baptist Sunday School in addition to Mass each week. Long stories behind each of those, I'm still Catholic though, still Orthodox in my understanding of the Eucharist. I don't have any issues with Church theology from Trent to Vatican II, or even with Humanae Vitae or Mary. We have six kids and respect the fact that God may call us to having more. But suffice to say that I have a fairly adequate understanding of both Catholic theology and fundamentalist theology. I won't put that last one with a capital "F," because it's a loose system, especially in Southern Baptist churches. I also see some things, some things that trouble me.

Why the disclaimer?
I say this because the direction I'm going is fraught with the limitations of human perception (so if the Church really is the Sacrament of God's Presence here on Earth, being able to wrap your brain around it would be as difficult as trying to wrap your brain around God) and the fact remains that I may very well be looking at things with an improperly formed conscience or a damaged set of life-filters. So be it. All opinions here are just from one guy named after a barnyard animal. This is all free advice and you get what you pay for, your mileage may vary, etc. But as Chesterton wrote, "If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly." He was talking about generalists who do things out of love as opposed to specialists who do things because they get paid lots of money, taking the most important parts of life (child rearing, for example). This is something that I feel I have to write despite the fact that I may be a poor writer, or one with a skewed view of reality. I have to say what I see because it appears that folks in these two polis' are too wrapped up in the validity of their own respective viewpoints and their historical differences to see the areas where they are deficient. Or Heaven help us, actually look to the other for guidance. One has the right theology, and sees that as their credentials, but the other has a better sense of the practice, and of course sees that as their "fruit."

Which side am I on?
In the title, it may seem as if I have a side, or that I see one as superior, and that is partly true. On one hand, I am going to speak mainly from the Catholic view, one I can't help but shake, and yet on that I have freely chosen. On the other hand, I see this triumph as a bad thing. The fact that these two traditions don't cross-pollinate enough to see the ways that they could benefit from each other is a great thorn in the side of Christ's Bride. We are not whole in the way that we should be. Richard John Neuhaus, editor of First Things, points out that in some way, we are unified, else the prayer of Jesus that we would be one didn't come to pass, and I'd hate to bet against the Lord Jesus and his interests, but this communion is not one that we fully live out. I am for the Catholic "team." I wish for all other "ecclesial communities" to know the truths that God has vested in the Church for their own edification. And I feel that the Catholic Church, while flawless in theology, had deep issues in how it practices, and I'm not talking about Liturgy. But more about that later. OK, everybody up to speed on where I'm starting from and a general idea of where I'm going? Good.

The Jr. team is doomed, I tell you, doomed!

Last night, the Junior section of my cycling team had a pizza dinner/parent's meeting. Last season was a rough one, the couple who has been the heart and soul of the junior team got overwhelmed by the responsibilities. Since the guy is a total cycling geek, he's stayed on trying to coach. But the gal has pulled herself out of the team to spend more time with career and kid, I think. The problem is that he was the cycling coach but she was the Momma Bear. She organized everything, got deals on registering the whole team at once, made sure everyone had a ride, etc. So the team has just been running on inertia since then, doing what they always have done, just showing up and waiting for stuff to happen. Being a new year, the pres called everyone together to get some level of organization. In the process they named me as Race Director. I pointed out that I had never finished a race better than last. I pointed out that at my first race, I got beat by a girl. A girl who mentioned that she had just finished her last Chemo four months prior. I took the position. Those kids are doomed.

Oh, and Joseph got a very nice trophy, the only award given, for being the most improved rider. The pres and VP had very nice things to say about him, and even though I'm his Dad, I know they weren't just blowing smoke up his backside. You can see it in the way that he finishes, the way he goes past the point where he used to quit, in his results, and more importantly, how he gets treated by his competition. They respect him now when before they just ignored him. Little brother Jacob spent the rest of the night playing with the trophy while making space battle sounds. Those are my boys.

OK, it looks like I only have one spare der, not two

Upon further review (it took a while), my old derailleur cage is bent. It looks like it's not, but the teeth of the two pulleys don't line up, so something is messed up. A buddy of mine (Matt) who works as a wrench in the Keller shop told me that you can replace the cage, he even showed me the part, but he said that it's a pain in the butt. Actually, he said it was a *itch, but I don't like using that kind of language. Maybe if he had said that it was a positively craptacular way to spend an afternoon, I'd post that. But instead he said bitch. Doh!

Why I have three rear derailleurs

There were only four of us on a "training ride" three weeks back.  One guy was about the same level as me, the other two are really strong guys.  So as we're starting up another hill about an hour into the ride, I shift into the big ring to catch up and promptly drop my chain.  It fell off on the outside, towards my pedal.  I shifted back, hoping to pull my chain back onto the ring (it's worked a couple of times), but it didn't this time.  I felt the chain catch, or I should say lock up.  I tried to force it a bit (just a bit), and then I felt the whole bike lock up.  Fortunately, by this time, I had lost a considerable amount of momentum and the bike was almost to a stop.  The wet pavement helped me from doing further damage to my drivetrain.  I pulled over and noticed my rear derailleur in my rear spokes.  Not good, not good at all.  Worse, the other guys were over the hill and gone, and I didn't have anyone's phone number with me.  So I pulled over and tried to get the bike rideable.  Did I mention that it was cold, like mid-30's?  And windy?  And the sweat in my gear was starting to make me shiver?

I was about to call home and get my wife to come get me (it would have taken her an hour plus) when my ride mates came back over the hill looking for me.  Chris Moore was able to get me one gear, one stinking gear, but that was enough to ride on, and we took off.  My one gear was 53x13 or 14, I forget.  And the derailleur hanger was at a 45 degree angle, so the derailleur pulleys were out of alignment with the chain, meaning a huge amount of drag (Chris said it felt like 50 watts, I have no clue).  It felt very tall.  Well, we went back the next 16 miles to the shop.  The whole way I can't shift.  I can't accelerate worth a flip and I don't want to stop.  At the shop, the wrench (a guy I trust a great deal, despite his misdiagnosis) informs me that, now that he's worked the derailleur hanger back, the derailleur itself is bent.  Time for a new one.  Oh, new ones cost $100.  And it's right before Christmas and with six kids, I'm pretty much broke.  So much for finishing off those last 120 miles to get to 2500 for the year...  So I did what any other near-broke cyclist would do, I went to eBay.  I put the bike in the shop, it needed a new chain anyway, and I told the guy "I'll provide the derailleur and the hanger." I spent the rest of the week looking on eBay.  Meanwhile, another wrench at another shop who's a pretty good friend (I'd buy him lunch on his birthday kind of buddy) says, "Hey, maybe I can find something at home to help you out."  Of course, I'm impatient, so after a couple of days of no news from him, I found a nice Ultegra 9 sp rear der, which would work with my 10 speed system per Shimano, and I bought it the Friday before Christmas.  Then I wait and wait.  I bought it on a Friday.  The following Thursday, I ping the eBay seller.  No response.  I ping him again on Friday, he says "Your der is on its way."  Ouch, no way it will be here before the big ride on New Year's.  Sat night, my buddy at the shop says, I've got a better der, Dura Ace, and it's yours for $5 more than the eBay der, and it's ready tomorrow.  Rock and roll!  The eBay one will be a backup.  So I buy it, take it back to the shop my bike is waiting at (same franchise), and get everything set up.  I picked it up today, but the guy tells me that the "broken" der isn't really bent.  It must have been the hanger.  Dang it, I had that the whole time!  I ordered a spare when Joseph bent one last Summer.  Then I get home, and guess what's in my mailbox?  The eBay der!!  So now I have a 9 speed Ultegra, a 10 speed Ultegra, and a 9 speed Dura Ace, with the last one installed.  Yuck, now I have to go back to try to sell one to make back some change.

Prospero Año Neuvo

I don't know if you can tell, but I came very close to using some foul Spanish in the title for this post. Many years ago when I was a Youth Minister, I came to understand the difference between "Año" and "Ano." One means year, the other means anus. The Catholic Church was making a big deal about the year 2000 and there was a National Office that was created to promote all kinds of stuff for it. They called it a Jubilee year and everything that was written in English was also in Spanish. Unfortunately, they let something slip in a final press and had to recall thousands and thousands of Spanish pamphlets proclaiming the Jubilee for Anus 2000, or maybe it was the Jubilee of 2000 Anuses (Anii?). So fast forward a year, and I'm in Six Flags at their Holiday in the Park, and there's all these signs everywhere with Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in different languages, and there's this one in front of me with "Prospero Ano Neuvo!" Happy New Anus! I included it on all my Christmas Cards that year.

I really want one of these

In the Netherlands, they are called bakfiets (bach-feets), the plural is bakfietsen. They are huge overseas. Check out this footage of them outside a local zoo.



I especially like all the child sized seatbelts. I don't know how these would play out here unless there emerged a real bike friendly trail system, but I would love to find out. Here's an example of how family-friendly they can be.



Sleeping babies, how cute!

Better than a Blog award!

Today I experienced an epiphany. I checked out Sitemeter and saw that I had a hit. Yes, I know, I'm so desperate for attention that I check out each hit on my blog, but that only proves my eventual point. The entry click for this hit was a Google search for "lame blogs." And yessir, this one came in third!!

Check it out for yourself.

I'm so proud. And I can't believe I'm so proud. It's a tribute to the insignificance of this blog. To all the little people who have never checked out my blog, thank you. Although you'll never know how much your missing this blog was so important to me, and you'll never know you missed it because you never saw it, your apathy and ignorance is a source of courage and inspiration for me.

Edit: *sniff, sniff* I guess the vagaries of Google are beyond the ken of mortals. I am now no longer #3 on the list, but #36. Maybe the very nature of lame-ness requires that you be ignorant of it. Sort of like those folks who are sooo cooool that they shop for plaid pants at thrift stores even though they pull down six figure salaries. If you are knowingly lame, you no longer qualify as lame, but have progressed beyond lame, straight past vaguely hip, around the corner from faddish, to sit down next to passé.

Bike Lights

Ok, a while back I put up a post on riding in the dark. It is different than riding in the night, obviously. There are two points to consider. 1) Can drivers see me? and 2) Can I see the road enough to ride at a decent speed? The first point can be handled pretty inexpensively. I've got a Planet Bike Blinky Super Flash tail light and the dang thing is bright. It's not as bright as a Dinotte tail light, but it seems to do a good enough job. I even had a driver tell me at a stoplight that he liked the taillight that I had, and that was on a Saturday morning. It was cloudy, but it was between 11 and 11:30 am. If I had a spare $150, I'd get the Dinotte. Joey from Trinity Bicycles showed me one on his bike back this summer and the thing is bright. The pics from the bottom of their photo page that show a huge amount of red light look exactly like what I saw. But the Super Flash was $20 or so. Case closed. I guess if I were concerned that someone was going to hit me from behind, then I'd get the Dinotte. Yeah, the busiest part of my commute is a road that had a shoulder that's a whole lane wide. If I didn't have that, I'd spend for the Dinotte. Despite the high cost of living, it's still popular. You can handle the first question for headlights (Can drivers see me?) for relatively little cash as well. The Fredcast recommends that you actually have two lights for visibility, one flashing on your handlebars and one constant on your helmet. Folks can see that you are looking at them and respond quicker. The one for your head should probably be a relatively expensive one though, so you can use it to see the road better. I got a cheap Cateye LED for Joseph last month. I didn't realize how weak it was until I got it, but it will work as a flashing light just fine.
But for the second issue, can I see the road, you need to be prepared to spend the bucks. I originally got a NiteHawk Phoenix halogen light that had been sitting in the shop for three years. Since it had been sitting there for so long, it was marked down to 1/2 MSRP. I liked the brightness, the charger, and the setup on the bike. Unfortunately, the yellow light tended to get washed out at dusk, especially when there's cars passing by. On a dark night or on a trail, it's great though. So I ended up getting an early Christmas gift from my Pop, a NiteRider Minewt. It's the '07 model, not the one they sold last Spring. It throws the light a bit farther than the halogen and the light picks up contrasts a bit better. It also has three settings: high, low and flash; and the battery lasts longer. My commute is short enough that I don't worry about the Phoenix dying out, but on longer night rides, the 3 1/2 hour burn time is nice.
Last night I rode about 12 miles from the office to try to catch up with the bi-weekly night ride. I brought along both headlights, as I was worried that I might run through the Minewt's battery. I haven't ever had a light go out on me when I needed it, but I'm pretty good about making sure the things are charged up. I missed the ride and had to turn around and go home. So I got a chance to see how the lights worked at twilight, at dusk, and then after sunset. When there was enough light to see the road clearly, I had the Minewt on flash. It gave me the comfort I needed to approach intersections and basically let folks know I'm there. Eventually it got a bit darker and I had to go to the low beam. The high beam didn't help me see the road better, although you could see a difference between high and low, plus I wanted to be able to use it for the entire ride. Turning on the Phoenix didn't give me better vision at this point either. After I figured out that I had missed the ride and had turned back, it was after sunset. I started to head home. Unlike my normal commute, this was mostly through neighborhood streets with no defined shoulder instead of on a major road with a full lane of shoulder. The Super Flash was still adequate but the Minewt just didn't seem to throw out light far enough as I passed from block to block in mostly-darkness. After a couple of miles, I threw it on high. Then I turned on the Phoenix and noticed quite a difference. When I was riding down the major road with lots of light pollution (streetlights, car headlights), the halogen Phoenix was washed out. If I had the Minewt on low and turned the Phoenix on and off, there really wasn't a discernible difference, except at the far edges of the beam. I think this is primarily because most headlights and streetlights are halogens, so the light pollution from them washes out the halogen Phoenix. The LED light freqs thrown out by the Minewt are different enough to help me see up the road. But when there's not much light out at all, the Phoenix was a tad brighter. Using both gave me the best vision though. The Minewt threw the light out a bit farther and the light itself is easier to adjust, so it was tilted a bit further up than the Phoenix. I was planning on giving it to Joseph or to my Brother-in-law, but now it looks like I'm buying some more lights for Christmas for them. Maybe I'll buy them some different types and try them out first.

Sherman named head coach - News

Sherman named head coach - News

I dunno. He's never been a head coach in college, so never been in charge of recruiting. And that's more than half of college coaching. He's been an NFL head coach, but never of a team that had a quarterback not named Brett Favre. Methinks that he might not be that much better than Fran. At least Fran had a great pedigree. And for 7 years at $1.8 million? I know that's what the head coach at a "major" team like A&M should be paid, but this guy seems like a reach. If he has a cheap buyout clause, then I'm on the bandwagon. Otherwise, I'm just kinda hanging here, waiting to see what the recruit class looks like and see what he puts on the field.

Mike Huckabee, Chuck Norris approved

This is just freaking hilarious.



I don't really support Huckabee, I actually think all politicians are basically out for themselves instead of the betterment of the nation. But this, this makes me want to vote for him. This is just too much chutzpah to ignore.

Need to do work while still getting in that winter training?

I need one of these. A very nice mix of hi-tech and lo-tech.

Check this out

Just found this on accident and found it fascinating. It makes me think all about my own kids' experience with homeschooling.



So it seems that educational structures and objectives are totally skew with what college students experience or how they see the world.

H/T to Digital Edu. Like I said, I just stumbled upon it, no guarantees that this guy would approve of anything I say, or vice versa.

Reunification, everybody's doing it

OK, for something different, a blog entry that has nothing to do with family or cycling...

I just read this about possible reunification between the Roman Catholic Church and elements of the Orthodox Church. Hat tip to Marcel at Mary's Aggies. I say "elements of" only because the Russian Orthodox (not the oldest or most prestigious, but certainly the largest) members walked out because there were reps from the Estonian Orthodox church there, and the Russians apparently look on the Estonians like the Chinese do the Taiwanese. It will be interesting to see if this sticks. Since the Orthodox church is "Autocephalous," meaning that the Patriarch of Serbia has no real authority over folks under the Patriarch of Romania, it remains to be seen if each Patriarch will have to independently agree to the document, although maybe they already did, the reports I've read aren't clear. I also did a bit of Googling and found an interview with the representative Bishop from the Russian Orthodox church where he makes it clear that he agrees with the primacy of the Patriarch of Rome (the Pope) but that it's a primacy of honor, not of jurisdiction. In other words, yup, he's the first, but not really in any meaningful way. It's like letting your older brother ride shotgun so he won't mess with you you in the back seat. It looks nice and all, but it's really not something all that meaningful. It might be a good start, or it might not go anywhere. There's also a CNS report out that has some interesting tidbits. The Russian Orthodox are saying "We weren't there, it might not count." And Cardinal Kaspar points out in a Vatican Radio interview that "I think it will need a whole decade." OK, something to pray for, but it doesn't look like anything's going to happen soon.

And it reminds me also of this, although this is a bit less autocephalous and a bit more "OK, now that we've got spit in the eye by the Episcopalian Church, we can see a bit more clearly. Please let us in your club."
Hat tips to Marcel (a buddy of mine from college), to the Shrine of the Holy Whapping (never met him), and to the Bovina Blovinator (never heard of them, but that's more about my ignorance than their importance).

It get too dark too early now

OK, so I'm walking out to the car after work. I had spandex on under my clothes and my bike in the trunk. It was between 5:30 to 5:40. Fortunately I had remembered to grab the battery for my head light before I left this morning. When I finally stepped off at nearly six pm, dusk had fallen. In fact, sunset was at 5:30, so dusk had not only fallen on his keister, but he was passed out on the median mumbling something about an old college flame. No problem, I thought. I've got my trusty 10w halogen headlight mounted on the handlebars. That with a blinky taillight will keep me visible. And those items did just that. Unfortunately I came to understand why my headlight was on clearance for $80 and why some folks will pay > $400 for a top flight HID system. I'm sure cars could see my headlight, but with all of the streetlights and headlights of traffic passing, I could barely see 15-20 feet in front of me. If it had been darker, then I would have done fine. But as it was, I needed more light to cut through the light pollution to really see the ground. It'll be fine for those night rides through the parks, but I think I need to spend a couple of hundred bucks to get me a dinotte or maybe a minewt dual. Then Joseph can put on my niterider and come meet me halfway or something.

"Doping in sports is a victimless crime"

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be so. This is troubling in that not only are innocent children the ones bearing the burden, but that the athletes probably didn't even know that they were taking PEDs (Performance Enhancing Drugs). Today's athletes are putting not only their own health at risk, but the health of their progeny if/when they dope.

Saturday ride

OK, there's more in my life than just cycling, but that seems to be one of the few things I feel OK blogging about. So it goes. Saturday morning I decide to take the plunge and go on the big shop ride, 55 miles. I remembered that Andy Hollinger has said that if he's there, no one will get dropped. I've done some other shop rides, 30-odd affairs, and I usually fall off after about 12-15 miles and make my own way home. This ride goes to a completely different part of Ft. Worth and a part that I don't know well enough to get back on my own. But I knew that I couldn't ride on Sunday (HS cycling league practice), or Monday (business trip) or Tuesday (conf call at 8 AM), so I wanted to get in some miles. Of course, I forgot my cell phone in the car, so I couldn't log the miles with bimactive. And I don't know the route, so I can't manually input it. So I get on this ride. I think I fell off the back four times. Once, they came to a stop light barely a hundred meters after I popped. Then I fell off again, but they turned away from the wind and got a little slope down, so it was no problem to get right back on. A third time I fell back and thought I would be waiting for Andy (who fell back miles before), but I think the group got held up by another light. The last time, I was riding on perhaps the worst chip-seal that I've ever ridden on. I don't mean that it was broken up in semi-potholes. I mean that it was without blemish, except for the chip seal itself was so bad it was like the road had some sort of skin disease. And there was a hill, and I was tired, and, oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the chipseal was all kinds of nasty. One of the better riders, Colt Bates, came back and rode with me up the last few hills. Quite an encourager. I never really rotated through with anyone, just stayed in the back and took what draft I could. I did jump at the end, but after a short rally I popped and sharked back to the back of the pack. I still finished with the pack though. I think I'm getting an idea of what my strengths and weaknesses are. Of course, like everyone else, I hate hills, but on long low-grade climbs, I think I have an advantage. Being 250, I don't have to get up out of the seat to really mash down with power, so lots of hills where other guys are standing up, I'm motoring past still in my seat and not putting in that much effort. And on the other side of the hill, I can totally tear up most smaller riders. I need to work on steeper hills, longer high HR efforts, and maybe learn to sprint in there somewhere.

Wed Night ride

Wow, that was fun. I rode the TBi night ride last night. It starts at 6 pm, so it's not that dark for the first hour or so. Much of the ride is on trails through parks, and the intent is to have a fun ride, not train for this weekend's race, so the pace is quite a bit easier than the Tuesday/Thursday rides. Lot's of guys ride with their wives, which is a welcome addition. I was jealous that I wasn't able to bring my own. She told me, she's only a bike purchase and a babysitter for six away from joining me. I think she'd rock. Anyway, the ride requires lights. Lots of folks have gotten nice LED's or HID lights. My 10w Halogen looked teensy by comparison. But it did the job. Maybe I will upgrade later. I was surprised by the performance that one guy got out of some Princeton Tec lights. Those guys are only $30 or so. Of course, he had 2 on his bike and one on his helmet, but they seemed to be bright enough, and they had that blue tint that seems to make things easier to see. Hmmm... I think I have an idea for a Christmas list. You can see the ride on my cycling blog. I don't know how often I can ride these. It was a rough night of solo parenting for Kim. Maybe every other week or so?

Reunion or Re-Onion?

This upcoming weekend is my 20th HS reunion. Scary stuff. The website that they have set up is really pretty good. It has a nice combination of "Did I look like that?" pictures, complete with yours truly sporting a Coors Light can (Coors, it's not even real beer, is it?) combined with "Where I am now," posts and "Look at my kids" pictures. I think it really whets everyone's appetite for the big shin-dig on Saturday night. I guess the biggest downer for me is all the folks who are divorced. Very rarely is it a good ending, usually it's a bad thing, especially with kids. I guess some might see it as making the best of a bad situation, but it hurts to see folks that I grew up with divorced, and so many of them. I just am one of those that sees marriage as a forever thing. From my folks closing arguments in a big fight ("Well, it's too bad, you're stuck with me!" with a big, broad smile, soon followed by apologies and a kiss) to the my understanding of the Catholic Sacramental model of Marriage (Bam! Kapow! Abra Kadabra, the two are now ONE!!!) to my own twisted home-grown, amateur-theologian understanding of marriage as a life-long object lesson on the love and passion of Christ for His Bride, the Church, it's always a one-way street. You can see it in the language. You get married, meaning that you undergo a change. You don't say, "I'm going to get eating," or "I'm going to get watching a football game." Those are just events in your life, you don't stay in that state forever. It's more like "I am going to get tattooed," or "I am going to get in shape." Marriage is a change of who and what you are. You stay that way until God pulls you apart by killing one of you. OK, maybe others won't agree (maybe I'm too post-modern to stand firmer on this). But all I've ever known about marriage is that it happens once and you stick to it forever. And that has brought such purpose to my life. I am still totally in love with my wife after 14 years of marriage. I have to be honest, I think I'm more in awe of her now than when we first got hitched. I heard a guy quoted on the radio saying "The fact that I get to wake up next to her each morning has got to be the best scam I have ever been a part of..." So maybe I got really really lucky, or married above my station, but I'm not married to her still because it feels right, but because it just is right.
So, lot's of folks from my class are divorced, and somehow that hurts me. Maybe it hurts because it makes my marriage seem not as important somehow, or that other folks don't cherish it the way I do. Maybe it's because it's folks who I grew up with, from my hometown, who in some way have lived life much the same as I have. I dunno. I do want to hug my wife right now. Maybe I just want it to reassure myself that she's still mine, or that I'm still a good husband. Grace just doesn't sit well with us, does it? Almost as bad as sin.

Night Riding

It's getting darker earlier now. I heard that our regular Tuesday - Thursday shop ride will be phasing out this week due to dusk coming earlier and earlier. Shame that Joseph and I are just now getting tuned in. The alternate to it is laps at Texas Motor Speedway, ok for me but a hoof for Joseph. So today, due to a class that I had at 8 am at work, I had to get up at the butt crack of dawn and ride in the dark. I have a nice set of lights, a 10W halogen front light and a super blinky back light, but I still felt like I was taking my life in my hands when I pedaled off today. It wasn't that early, say 6:30 or so. Dawn was right around 7, so the last couple of miles I turned off my headlight. I think I'll be doing it again tomorrow and for the rest of the winter. I guess I better get used to it. There's also going to be a night ride starting at the shop sometime soon, maybe in a month or two. That's supposed to be a blast. Kinda slow compared to the regular ride and you need lights, but it's supposed to be the funnest ride out there. Maybe I can find a used set of lights for Joseph, maybe even Emily could keep up.

There's all kinds of good in this world

I read a story on CNN that shows me what evangelism could be, maybe what it should be. A little Iraqi boy was disfigured by some nasties last January who poured gasoline over him and lit him on fire. The father goes to the Iraqi Ministry of Health and the parliament to see what help he can find for his boy, but to no avail. He finds some reporters from CNN and 12,000 viewers donate to a special fund set up at the Children's Burn Foundation. He's here now in the states to get medical treatment, and as a bonus, he gets to see the beach in Malibu. While there, some folks from a local church are there on a Father-child beach trip. They see him, approach the interpreter, and ask if they can pray for him. The Iraqi family accepts and the church folks get down on their knees in the sand and surround the family, praying for healing and support. They even pray for forgiveness for the folks who injured this child. That's evangelism. We need to send folks over to Iraq to get on their knees in the sand and pray. I'm not a leftie or a fundie, and I think we're stuck in Iraq until they are ready to hold their own, but I think we need more missionaries there.
By the way, the CNN article identifies the church as Valley Peak, but it's almost certainly the Church at Rocky Peak. It's in the same town that the article mentions and there was a Father - child beach event there last Sunday.

Mark Shea falls victim to the disease that he's diagnosing

So I check Mark Shea's blog daily. OK, several times a day. He's got great stuff and I appreciate his sense of humor. In fact, I get a bit bummed when he doesn't have the time to post. He reads a ton on the 'net and lots of folks email him stuff so his site is a great nexus. He posted a nice article from InsideCatholic.com today that he wrote. On this article, I have a point of contention though. In order to point out how biased the media is about Pope Benedict XVI, he did a number of Google searches about him, like "Benedict XVI" rigid, and recorded the number of hits. So if lot's of folks think Pope B XVI is a rigid sort of guy, then there would be lots of hits. One problem, he did this for Google, so that's the entire Internet, not just what the LA Times or NY Post think of him. It's all the random left wing bloggers, all the whacked-out Fundies who think Jack Chick has a true vision, and all the random pages with lists of search terms hoping to catch traffic. All it would have taken would be to click the "News" link on the top of the Google search page to get an idea of how often that set of words was used by media types. Of course, the numbers given would have been much smaller, but a true indication of how prevalent those terms are used by the media, not the 'net. OK, I think I've beat the Internet <> Media drum. There's another issue that I have with this. He never gives those numbers any context by comparing them to searches that would be considered kind. So, no listing of how many hits "Benedict XVI" loving would show. In fact, that search gave more hits than the top one on his list. So going by the logic that he presents, there's more a feeling that the Pope is loving among the media than a feeling that he is rigid, more than he's "cracking down" on anything, in fact. Clicking on the "News" link here again gives a similar ratio of hits, although the numbers are much less impressive.
So what's the point? Isn't it OK for Mark to take a bit of license? I mean, I'm saying that the ratios don't change when we go from searching the whole 'net versus searching news articles, so he's not really twisting anything or presenting false info, right?
OK, technically, he's not lying or anything, but the gist of his article is about how unbelievably dumb the media is about religion. His reason? "They huddle together in packs, quoting each other and loading up their computers with macros that spit out the required text without their having to fire a single neuron to write it." Uhm, Mark, isn't that what you kinda-sorta did here? You took some Google hit numbers out of context, and they were the wrong numbers, by the way, and then said that they proved something that they didn't prove. I agree totally with the rest of your article, but using the Google examples as support only weakens your point and shows you as guilty of the very same slovenly approach to information that you are accusing the media of taking.
I wrote him an email about it, don't know if he'll respond. Busy guy that Mark. I pray he's really, really busy, doing things that bring him mucho $$ and that the Providence of God is shown again in his life.

PS. I didn't know that this would get picked up by Technorati. My apologies if this seems a bit mean. I have the utmost regard for Mark. I even tipped him (too bad I'm a lousy tipper).

Moving Sucks

We moved last week. Saturday, August 25th, I was in the attic pulling down old Christmas and Easter decorations and had just come inside for a drink when someone called about Ivan's death the night before. It hit Kim hard. It still does. I don't think that other team member's death would have have hit the whole team that hard. Because Ivan was so distant from his father, he belonged to all of us in a sense. A half-dozen people helped Tom put Ivan's bike together, donating parts and labor. Ivan was the boy becoming a man before our eyes. So packing on Saturday seemed pointless. Sunday night there was a ride for Ivan, four laps around the local Jr. College. They passed a hat and raised about 2 grand. I only came to work on Tuesday of last week, spending the rest of the time trying to pack and trying to cope. Wednesday night there was the last weekly crit for our team. All of the proceeds went to Ivan's memory. Some folks donated extra prize money. Normally the A race will return say $50-$60, but folks donated $400, with another $200 for the B race. That got people's attention. So many riders came up and said, "Hey, instead of racing against each other for the prize money that we'll probably donate back, let's race together." Half of the racers wore TBi jerseys and did exactly that. Every prime, and almost every place was won by someone wearing the new jerseys. And you don't usually see that many TBi jerseys in the A race to begin with. Very nice.
Thursday really hurt. Andy Hollinger had asked me to prepare a short prayer, just in case Ivan's pastor was late, so I did. The pastor was there on time though. The kids were over at Grandma's so we were packing like crazy until an hour or so beforehand. Kim got there late with Joseph and Emily. The service was simple: Andy said a few words, Ivan's pastor said a few words and led us in prayer. Then Andy asked for folks to talk about their memories of Ivan. Andy finished by reading some letters that Tom and Bobbye had written about Ivan, and then Lauren Hollinger and Randy Wallis sang Amazing Grace and that was that. It really sank in after that for Joseph. Lots of tears. We took Emily back to Grandma's but Joseph came home with us. He needed to be with us.
So not enough time. Not enough time to move, not enough time to pull ourselves gradually away from our friends on Finian Lane, or the schools. Not enough time to fully grieve for Ivan who did not live long enough for us to know him as well as I wish we could have. I know that Ivan has all of time now. And I don't feel that he's missing out. He's in heaven, and all the earthly joys that we might think he's "missing," going to and finishing school, getting married, having kids, they are but shadows of the joy in the presence of God. They are but smoke, scattered by the wind in comparison to spending eternity with the Almighty. I just wish I had taken more time, been more direct with Ivan, and been further enriched by that.
One story that didn't make the paper: Ivan ran cross country. One girl came up after the service and spoke with Tom. She said that she had also ran CC, and that no one would run with her except Ivan when she was recovering from an injury. When she raced, Ivan would run along the sidelines, encouraging her with a small stuffed monkey that was the team mascot for the entire race. She gave that monkey to Tom. Ivan was that encourager to many. I told Joseph that he needed to be that encourager now.

We're IN!!

We officially closed on our new house on Friday, August 31st. For those of you keeping count, that means that we were one calendar month from putting a sign up on our old house to closing on our new house. All in all, it was probably too fast. We got a total of one offer for our house. We looked at a total of one house in that month. It was one that we had looked at online for a while. This still scares the crud out of me. OK, the house is just right. It's not a Hampton's Mansion, but it's huge compared to anything I've ever lived in. I'm intimidated by the price. Our mortgage payment roughly doubled. That means that all of the times I would buy "little things" that at Bicycles Inc. are going to be gone. Instead of just buying basically what I want when I want, I'm going to have to budget stuff. Yuck. Christmas will be a bit rougher this year. Hopefully stuff will even out next year. I think the annual bonus in March will go straight to the mortgage. No fun.
This house also has stairs. Good and bad. Stairs means that the A/C (two units) will be a bit more efficient because there's more cubic space to surface area. Stairs means an extra floor with extra room. Stairs means that the kids can be sent upstairs to their room and you can't hear them ranting. Stairs also means that little girls can fall down them. Stairs also means that big, fat Dads can twist their bad knee with impunity when moving stuff upstairs. Stairs.

Goodbye Ivan

I lost a friend this weekend. Ivan Mukasa was part of my son's Jr. cycling team. He turned 18 last April and was someone that Joseph really looked up to. Ivan had a cruddy home life, beyond the usual "Dad and Son don't see eye-to-eye." Let's just say that I took Ivan on several out of town trips to various locations in TX and never met a parent at any race. Everything I've heard suggests that abuse was involved. Ivan was a very kind young man, soft spoken and polite, as well as fast. Rarely will an 18 year old choose to spend time with 12 year old boys, but Ivan never complained about bad jokes or loud voices on any of our long car rides. He always had a kind word for another racer no matter how they finished. He was also a State Champion. Ivan had finally prevailed against his past. He had graduated high school, gotten a green card, and received a cycling scholarship to MidWestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX. He was staying in the overflow housing at an apartment complex the weekend before classes started when he was found in the bottom of a swimming pool Friday night. Foul play is not being considered but there aren't any other details available. I still can't fathom that he's really gone. Like everyone else, I expect to see him riding around the corner any minute.
The grief is strong, not because his life was cut short. He lives a fullness with God now that the best parts of this life only point to. He has completed his final race and now stands a Champion. I pray that he will be carried swiftly to Paradise and that he will intercede for my family, especially Joseph. Ivan over the last few months had really come out of his shell and developed a role as a mentor for some of the younger riders. He mentioned to them that there were other riders who might think that they are too fast to ride with these kids, but that he thought that it was vitally important that he pass on all the experience that he could. I think that he just enjoyed the opportunity to be a kid. Joseph broke my heart in detailing the loss of Ivan. "Besides John, he's probably the only guy on the team who understands me." Tough to hear from a twelve year old. Kim cried as much or more than any of us.
Some things I will always remember about Ivan: his goofy Ugandan accent and big open laugh, the time he heard an announcer talking about primes and use the words "last lap," so he and another racer pushed hard for one more lap and finished the race two laps early, seeing him come around the final bend in perfect position for the State Championship RR last year and surprising everyone by getting fourth, seeing him cross the line 1st in this year's State Championship RR, leaving everyone behind with his powerful sprint. The next night, we went to grab some chow on the way home. We stopped at a Long John Silver's and Ivan noticed a Church's chicken next door. He met us at the Long John's with a ten piece box of chicken. Tom wouldn't let him eat fried chicken and he missed it so much. His consuming of that chicken was punctuated with long, this-is-really-good-food sighs. I will also remember seeing him about a week ago. We were just starting the Sunday afternoon ride and he came up behind me and placed his open palm on my back and stayed there for about twenty seconds. Then I looked over, he flashed his biggest smile, said "Hey Mr. Bull," and rode on ahead. Someday I'll catch up with you Ivan.

Goood Catholic Families

Last week I was on a business trip and mentioned to a car full of associates that we have six kids. Jaws dropped, eyes widened, air was gasped, the usual. Someone else in the car mentioned growing up with all the "good Catholic families" in their neighborhood having six, seven, or eight kids. A couple of folks mentioned that they or their spouses were Catholic. I didn't mention that I was Catholic, just that I married far above my station (true fact) and that my wife is a saint (so far, so good). I only have one sibling, a sister 19 months younger. We were never really close, so I would often ask my Mom and Dad to have some more kids, hopefully better ones, ones not as "bratty and spoiled," as I saw my sister. Mom would tell me many times that she would have loved to have had more, and then make some excuse as to why she stopped at two. I didn't know until my wife was pregnant that my Mom had gone through tremendous complications to have me and my sister. A high forceps delivery, internal tearing of muscles that I don't feel comfortable mentioning, a baby having emergency surgery at 28 days old to repair an unknown life-threatening birth defect, the death of her father five days before I was born and the mixture of emotions that I would never know him or his abusive tendencies. We have some friends who just had their fourth this year, and that pregnancy nearly killed the mom. She had her tubes tied and plenty else removed shortly later. These are faith-filled Catholics who know that the stroke that came with this child was God's way of saying "that's plenty." The issues my Mom dealt with were God's way of saying "that's plenty." I have a dear friend who has shared in his wife's pain of six miscarriages and no living children. They've given up on asking again for a child. And then I read this really beautiful piece on Good Catholic Families. Thanks Karen. I really need to remember these kinds of things. I take too much pride in the fact that God has blessed us with a vision of many children and then followed it up with no complications. But Good Catholic is as Good Catholic Does, not how many trophies they accumulate. My Mom and Dad having two was faithful and prudent and open and holy.

House for sale! No more!

OK, so we've got six kids, four bedrooms, and two bathrooms. That means two kids per room (not as bad as it sounds). And it means that all of them share one bathroom. Not a tremendous obstacle right now, but our oldest will be 13 in October and the next one is 10 and of a different gender. This projects as major conflict on the horizon. We will potentially have three teenagers using the same bathroom, sharing it with three younger kids. Not good. So the house went up for sale on July 31st, just before we left for vacation. On Monday after we got back, we got a call from our Realtor, Loyce Shirley. She said we had an offer on the table that was just what we were looking for. Basically list price and an extra thousand back for their closing. Zowie. I thought we had another month or so and that the offer would be for 3 to 5 thousand less. So then we have to find a place, and a home that I had looked at 8 MONTHS AGO and longed for and said "why am I looking at this on the internet, it will not be available when I can buy it," still had a For Sale sign up in its yard. We went over to see it and it's perfect. Upstairs might need a bit of updating, but downstairs is so much more than we could have dreamed. And it's got 5 BR and 3 bath. And it's 12k cheaper than it was in January. So we close on our home this week, maybe next, and we buy the new house just after Labor Day. It's only a couple of miles from our house right now so we can still see all our friends. So either God was up there tapping his watch saying "Uhm, Bull, let's get your house on the market so I can show you some tangible gifts" or it's like when Israel kept begging Samuel to have God send them a king. Finally God responded and gave them Saul. They got what they asked for, even when their asking was an act of unbelief, and the results were not what they wanted. Lord, sanctify my very asking. Help me to want that which you want.

Babies like the Elms

OK, so there's a couple more stories about Vacation... Sunday we went to the San Jacinto Monument. It's tucked in the middle of all kinds of factories and plants that make things like olefins and random smelly plastics. The park is beautiful, however. Plenty of trees block the view of all the gunk around it. And the monument is the monument. Pretty much the same as when I visited it as a 3rd grader on a field trip. The Battleship Texas is also there and it looks much better than I remember it. Not as much of it is open but what's there looks great.
Then on the way back we had a spate of dueling crying babies. We knew that stopping would calm them down only temporarily so we soldiered on. No amount of singing or holding-while-still-in-baby-straps would help. Finally we thought "let's try the CD player." The song on was by a band named The Elms, the song was Hey Hey! and the line of the song was "Yeah, hey, hey I! Hey, hey I…Should’ve tried - tried this sooner. Tried this sooner." And that was that, they both conked out before the line finished and slept the rest of the way. Needless to say we did not change the CD until after we got home. Our babies like the Elms.

Vacation

Ahhh... We just got back from our vacation Sunday night. It was very restful. We spent Monday cleaning up the house and getting in order to show. We have too many kids for that house and we need a bigger one. So on Sunday night, we had a realtor over to sign the paperwork to put it on the market. Loyce Shirley. Nice gal. Smart and experienced. We had talked to another realtor and while there was nothing wrong with her, it just didn't feel right, so I called Loyce. Glad I did, but more on that later. So we get up on Tuesday and start to pack, get out of the house around 1 or 2 and head off to Nacogdoches, TX. Affectionately referred to as Naco-Nowhere. My Aunt and Uncle built a house there (by themselves, no builder) after they took early retirement. I love being there. My cell phone doesn't work, there's about 8 acres, no one else around, no shops, lots of grass and trees and mud. Heck, the room we slept in doesn't have windows. Kim slept in until 10! The kids love it there, the babies were just glad to get out of their car seats and enjoy some room. Wednesday we drove down to Houston after having lunch with my cousin Josh and his wife Ashley and their new boy Will. He's about a month older than my youngest but he's built like a truck. Thursday I drove to the other side of Houston for work stuff. I don't know that I got that much work done, but I think I really laid the foundation for stuff I'm doing this week and beyond. It always helps to be able to meet and greet. Friday we just sat around. The weekend was jam packed and I'll post that separately. All in all, a great time. Too much time driving though. My back hurt all day Monday and the babies cried off and on. Next time we'll space out our driving a bit more.