Life Goals, Rhinosinusitis, & Looking Forward to Christmas

So I would've been at work today, but instead evolutionary responses to pathogens decided to manifest themselves beginning yesterday evening and at the moment continue to prevent my otherwise optimal biological functions.  Postnasal discharge, irritation of the pharynx, minor inflammation of the larynx, cephalgia, and generalized ache and fatigue are the symptoms that point to rhinosinusitis - commonly said as the common cold.  It's fascinating how when we look at the medical terminology it makes things seem a lot worse than it is.  Of course, so far I'm not bad off.  I'm faring better than my daughter fared this past week.  I don't have any excessive phlegm, fever, or respiratory inflammation that has been characterized by some who've been so fortunate as to already been afflicted with this round of cold.

The symptoms of course are easily mitigated by AleveⓇ, green tea with honey, and rest. Vitamin C is also a good thing to add, just because the body needs it (or so I've been consistently told).  Vicks Vaporub™ of course is a gift from God if congestion and respiratory inflammation become exasperated.  But so far, unlike most men of my condition, I'm not in critical condition.

Today I finished one of the three books I was reading.  The book "Personality Hacker: Harness the Power of Your Personality Type to Transform Your Work, Relationships, and Life" was written by Joel Mark Witt and Antonia Dodge and is a fantastic read if you're interested in personality theory and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).  I first heard of their book by listening to the Personality Hacker Podcast which I heard about via their YouTube channel which I definitely recommend taking a look at.  You can read my review of their book here.

Aside from having the imposition of a malaise I've been making some positive progress toward my goal of waking up early.  Alternatively I'm not waking up at 5:30 every morning like the video says, but reasonably around 7:30.  This of course has not been without challenge.  My work schedule constantly fluctuates so going to bed at the same time every evening has been difficult.  My goal has been to be ready to sleep by 11 pm, and this is done well most nights.  Of course with the responsibilities and joys that come with parenting I must see this is as an attainable, if at times impractical, goal - especially while my daughter was ill with rhinosinusitis and my wife and I found ourselves up late at night making sure she was as comfortable as possible.

I'm looking forward to the next few days off of work to spend with the family and visiting with relatives.  Christmas, at least per my perception, is a much bigger deal than Thanksgiving.  Both are filled with food, but there's just a more relaxed ambiance that comes with Christmas.  There's less rushing around to do, all is quiet.

I want to take this opportunity to wish every one who somehow chances to fall upon my blog a very Merry Christmas!

Review: Personality Hacker: Harness the Power of Your Personality Type to Transform Your Work, Relationships, and Life

Personality Hacker: Harness the Power of Your Personality Type to Transform Your Work, Relationships, and Life by Joel Mark Witt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Personality Hacker is an absolutely phenomenal book on Cognitive Function and the Myers-Briggs (MBTI) concepts. The book begins in a similar manner to other Myers-Briggs texts I've read on the topic by discussing the dichotomies of the MBTI and then relating the various cognitive functions with seamless precision. Joel Witt and Antonia Dodge clearly outline with each of the MBTI personality types how the different cognitive functions operate using their "car model" which is easily explained.

The concepts covered in the book itself are easy to understand and not watered down like some other books I've read on personality theory. Witt and Dodge use an engaging style and presentation that eases the reader into a conversation about how to be yourself to the full, understand and be comfortable with how you are mentally wired, and opening the path to better self awareness and improvement. It was a difficult book to put down and it has earned pride of place among books I recommend as well as a useful reference.

View all my reviews

My Daughter Is Crawling Successfully

Took a few weeks of trying, but finally got a video of my beautiful baby girl crawling forward.  Typically, as infants learn to crawl they figure out how to move backwards before they move forward.  At seven months my daughter figured out how to crawl forward, and since then has wanted to do nothing less!

Every day I anticipate with excitement and joy what developmental milestones she will reach next.  Guess the next milestone will be walking and adding a few more words to her vocabulary.  In addition to "dad" and "hi" she's added "momma," "hungry," (very important!) and "hey."  Little by little she grows and it amazes me that we all start out with just a couple of words and working out how to move around.

New Goal: Wake Up Early

So, recently I saw a video on YouTube about the benefits of waking up at 5 am every day.  Now, I haven't woken up before 6:30 am since the time I was in seminary.  Most of the time I spent going to college was spent with my alarm sounding at 6:30 am and actually getting out of bed and beginning my day around 7:30.  Some days I slept in until almost 10 or 11 am, especially if I was out with friends the previous night, or needed to catch up on sleep.

A couple of moves later and living in a new state, the current work/life balance has yielded an ever changing sleep schedule.  This biorhythm has begun to introduce a chaos, stress, and fatigue into a cycle that functioned well and previously provided me with a healthy lifestyle where I was able to get things done.  At current, it seems like I don't get anything done, and my routine clothes itself in appearance of disorder and slothfulness.  Sometimes, when I begin winding down before bed I find myself thinking to myself, "I didn't get anything done today and now I have to push my tasks to the next day."  Needless to say I rarely find within myself a sense of accomplishment at the end of my day.

Well, I've decided to change that!

So beginning tomorrow morning I will be beginning an experiment to restore what was stereotype to my biorhythm.  This experiment will cover the better part of the month to resurrect the habit of a regular bed time and wake time.  The process will not yield perfection overnight.  Any sort of change in habit - especially when a bad habit has developed - takes time.  It is said that to develop a new habit takes at least 27 days, or on average one month.

It'll take some altering of a few bad habits I have developed.  Some important things that I've already been working on with some success, which have greatly helped me prepare for the experiment:

• No phone use for at least 30 minutes before bed
• Establish a procedural pre-bedtime sequence so that the body eventually learns that it's time to get to sleep.
• When the alarm sounds in the morning hitting the snooze < 5 times (still bad at this!)
• Establishing an unalterable sequential morning routine

It's been hard as a parent establishing a consistent routine for myself, but I think it needs to happen.  I remind myself that there will come a time when I will expect a routine from my daughter, and any other children I may have, thus it's important that I establish a routine so that the example is already set and ready to be imitated.

The best benefit to redeveloping a routine is that I will have more time for those things I want to do that aren't important.  Things like reading, blogging, catching up with friends will become much less difficult and more things that I just have time to do.  I think that's the ultimate and best benefit of all!

A Clarification, Not An Apology

So, in my last post, Farewell, Catholic Blogosphere, I posited a critique and overview of some of the erroneous positions and stereotypes one may encounter on the Catholic blogosphere and even social media.  What I did not expect was some of the backlash and hurt feelings.  Perhaps my words were not well chosen.  However, I do not apologize in the sense of saying that "I'm sorry" as I'm sure some would do.  I will apologize by clarifying in three points what may have been a confusing post to some.

First of all, I have a profound love of my Faith and fellow lay faithful.  This does not mean that I will accept or allow errors to go unchallenged.  Where there is a disagreement on the fundamentals or teachings of the Catholic faith, there needs to be affirmation, confirmation, and clarification.  Unfortunately, it is very apparent that many lay faithful, and even a handful of clerics and prelates of diverse notoriety fail to affirm, confirm, and clarify the Faith to those who lack understanding and knowledge of what the Catholic Church actually teaches.  This, no matter what position someone might adopt on matters of faith, is no doubt problematic and a symptom of the malaise affecting the Church since the mid 20th century.

Second, I possess a great respect to any Priest or Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church who upholds and defends what the Church has taught for 2,000 years with authenticity and care.  This no doubt excludes those Priests and Bishops who have knowingly taught contrary to Church teaching or have knowingly been directly involved with the McCarrick cover up that blew up this past summer.  I renew my resolve to pray for all Priests and Bishops of the Catholic Church that they may lead the Church out of this crisis.  It is a terrible crime and scandal that has befallen the Church and the blame lies with the negligence of some who decided to place honor and position over humility and a heart after our Lord's own.

Third and finally, it has been an embarrassment to me when the efforts of those who pride themselves as "theologians" or "canonists" spread misunderstanding of what the Church really teaches and tolerates.  It makes it difficult when a lay person, Priest, or Bishop teach contrary to what I was taught and have come to believe, on my own.  Equally as problematic when some of the lay faithful (and even an infamous Jesuit) use their personality and notoriety to spread error and heretical positions, because it shows a Church that appears superficially to be divided, when in actuality the Church is not divided and will continue to perennially teach what Her Savior taught - even if those in charge do not.  The consistent Church that affirms, confirms, and clarify the Faith to Her lay faithful is the same Church that I received Sacraments from.  Any place that teaches contrary to the Catholic Church is not of her.

Farewell, Catholic Blogosphere

My Discernment

I had kept a blog regarding my analysis and outlook on matters of the Catholic faith from an unique perspective: as one who in many ways is a puzzle to many of the lay faithful.  For years I had a vicious cycle of posting in bursts, and then would fall silent only to delete all the posts and after a few years of nothing began again.  As much as I wanted to make great attempts at trying to explain my perspective of the Catholic faith, I realize over and over again that I just don't have the eloquence to do so.  So in a sense I'm announcing my retirement from the Catholic "blogosphere."  It's been fun, it really has.  But I'm not walking away without learning a few things about many of my fellow Catholics.  Allow me to break it down by talking about two very different wings of the Catholic Church and their subsets as I sit and watch the social media firestorms.

"Novus Ordo" (New Order Mass)

The "Liberal Left"/Social Justice Warrior (SJW)

So... yeah, this type absolutely has a very fanatic love affair with the Novus Ordo Missae (New Order of the Mass).  To say that they LOVE it when Mass is done with the most minimalist reverence to God would be an understatement.  If Pope Francis were suddenly to change the perennial teachings of the Church to reflect the flamboyant desires of this group of lay faithful, the organ and Latin would be universally abolished, and those who so much as think about suggesting or singing a more traditional hymn would be publicly denounced as a schismatic, or even "rigid," and promptly excommunicated.

These are the types who have a rather dim understanding of Catholic teaching and somehow thing that every thing that comes from the mouth of the Holy Father is infallible despite the fact that this is contrary to Vatican I.  Furthermore, these are the people will rush in to defend whatever flamboyantly erroneous thing that James Martin, SJ puts out on social media (while proceeding to callously insult even their own Bishops if they feel that their feelings are being "attacked").  Most of the time you can expect a "boomer" or child of the 1960s to be very deeply entrenched in this group.

Conservative Faction

These bunch are actually a mixed bag and by and large likely comprised of the vast majority of Catholic lay faithful.  These types are really trying to understand their faith, and are to be praised for it.  They've somehow made it past, or never dabbled with, the "chicken soup for the soul" type of thinking and have figured out that it actually takes a little effort to really navigate through the teachings of the Church as they apply to every day life.

These Catholics have sort of given in to this notion that those Catholics who go to Latin Mass are okay guys, but perhaps a little nutty.  They have a tendency to repeat and share things that in themselves seem well and good on the first glance (i.e. things Mark Shea writes), but haven't quite realized that prudence really is a good thing, and so really miss an opportunity to show someone the charity that is due them.  Many of these Catholics, despite the overwhelming crisis in the Church, go on about their lives as though some magical fairy is going to wave a wand and make everything better again.  Really, these Catholics are pretty mainstream and are trying their best, despite getting too "trigger happy" with the Catechism.  Again, I emphatically commend and praise them for their efforts and encourage them to keep striving to better their understanding and practice!

Neo-Conservative Caucus

Oh boy!  These are an interesting bunch.  Latin Mass goers?  Occasionally.  Do they, like most "traditional" Catholics support Cardinal Burke?  You bet.  However despite their agreements with most Latin Mass attendees they have a tendency to give in to the conspiracy theory that Abp. Lefebvre founded the Priestly Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) to create a overly militant order of Priests hell bent on beating the faith into people.  In fact it would be an understatement to say that they would be immensely suspicious of the Holy Father if he granted the SSPX the ability to go unchallenged within the Church.  Guess it's better to make sure one group of traditional Priests takes the brunt of the anti-traditional rage that's been going on since the 1950s.

When they aren't arguing about how much Latin would be too much at Mass, and sometimes sounding worse than the Republican National Convention, they're bludgeoning each other and those who argue with them about what virtues they're lacking.  Good luck talking to them if you're a Catholic who also happens to be a monarchist, because "you're just wrong, because the republican party will save America!"  If it were possible to create a democratic Catholic state just for them, they would no doubt flock to it.  If you've ever committed a sin at any point since you've been born you've probably been chewed out by a few of these types of Catholics.

"Traditional" Catholics

Before we delve into this I need to explain why I put traditional in quotes.  The reason is simple: adhering to what the Church has always taught and practiced does not make one a traditional Catholic, but just simply Roman Catholic.

"Rad Trads"

Oh my gosh!  I'm very happy when someone discovers the "Latin Mass" (henceforth Mass), however these are the type who will bludgeon folk and "non-trads" with every article they've ever read about how this Bishop or that Bishop is doing this or that thing.  Okay, I get it there's a crisis in the Church and this, this, and this Bishop has to go.  You know something?  I'm on your side on this, but moreover I'm hearing a lot more complaining and seeing a lot less action.  Let the good journalists and commentators at Rorate Caeli or One Peter Five do the talking and discussing.  As for "rad trads" (boy I really hate that label) they would do better to work with their Bishops, and if they can't do that, then pray for them.  Really, let others do the talking, because you're plaguing social media with a bit of fanaticism that's chasing people away, and that's not good.

Quasi Schismatics

These are the overly scrupulous about everything at the Mass.  Not only that, but talking about any of the Popes after Pius XII (John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I, John Paul II, Benedict XVI, & Francis) in their presence causes them to writhe in pain a little.  While some may be okay with the fact that Francis is indeed the Holy Father, they practically refuse to pray for the Pope.  The faith, to them, is more or less approached in a similar way to the "neo-conservative caucus" discussed above.  The only reason they don't dare step near a sede vacantes prayer service that looks like Mass is because their scruples just won't let them, and that's their saving grace.

"The Fake Canon Lawyer"

Alright, these are the kind who have read enough Canon Law to make them dangerous to others faith.  Unbeknownst to them you can't just read Canon Law and assume that such and such a situation, crisis, marriage, community of Priests, etc. is somehow improperly or properly according to this or that Church teaching or practice.  Moreover there is a tendency to even start pointless arguments over whether or not assisting at Mass said by a Priest of the SSPX somehow fulfills the Sunday obligation, despite the fact that it does fulfill the Sunday obligation per the Holy See.

"The Groupie"

Oh man!  Ever hear anyone say anything insinuating that only their parish has the only valid Mass?  You've met a groupie!  Whether it's someone who assists at Masses said by a Priest of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICRSS), Society of St. Pius X (SSPX), Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP), or any other community of traditional Priests or Diocesan, you can be sure that this person thinks very highly of the Priest offering Mass.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but you can't assume that any Mass said outside of your parish is somehow invalid or illicit.  You do have to admire the profound respect they do have towards their parish Priests though.

On A Final Note

As a Roman Catholic layperson I guess I really don't have a lot of positive or optimistic things to say about most of my fellow Catholic lay faithful.  I really don't.  That is not to say that I don't love and pray for them, though.  It's more that the faith that I received and was taught in grade school wasn't always the same faith I saw taught at other parishes while growing up.  In fact sometimes I wonder if we lay faithful of the Roman Catholic Church are somehow partially responsible for the crisis in the Church.  When we saw the Faith needlessly dumbed down in the 1970s, did we speak up to our Bishops?  When we saw the Mass of our parents and ancestors watered down to a mere replication of a late night talk show or a rock concert, what protest did we make?

I'm a little ashamed that often I think less of my fellow Catholics, but at the same time I don't apologize, because I see the Church truly at a tipping point.  Many of our Bishops have failed to protect and defend the Church against those who seek to harm her teachings and the most vulnerable and impressionable among us.  Many of the lay faithful are poorly taught their faith and are just getting by.  On social media there is more time spent arguing moot points and pointless topics (e.g. does going to Latin Mass make one schismatic?  Is it a sin to live in the suburbs?).

We need to stop.  I think this is where I'm different.  I don't fit in any of the stereotypes, and I really hope that you don't see yourself in the stereotypes either.  I'm just a Roman Catholic who assists at Mass (1962 Roman Missal), prays my Rosary, and day to day tries to prepare my soul for the inevitable day, that day of wrath, when my soul will finally be called forth to meet the very God who "created me to know, love, and serve Him in this world and to be happy with Him forever in the next." (Baltimore Catechism)  On that day I will have to render an account for my actions.  And I think that it would be good if every Catholic, even the Bishops, and those who may have become disoriented and confused in recent times, were to reflect daily on that point.  One day we will all have to render an account.  If the goal is to be welcomed into Heaven with the words "well done, good and faithful servant," then maybe we need to stop the drama and start acting like we actually believe what we have been taught.

My Daughter's First Taste of "Food"

This was my daughter's first taste of "food."  I deliberately use quotes because, as her face will say, it's not exactly creme brulee!

Why I'm Going to Miss Google Plus

UPDATE (02-06-2019):  It would seem that due to another discovered security breach Google will be closing down Google+ for consumers by April 2019.

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In case most of you haven't heard, Google is shuttering it's social network Google Plus (Google+, G+).  This is sad news to the many of us who use the service to network with like minded individuals and explore the latest in cutting edge science and technology discussions.

This news fell very hard on me, since I have spent many years networking with colleagues and others in my academic field and beyond.

But that wasn't the greatest thing about G+.  If you compared G+ to other social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, the differences couldn't be more obvious.

Twitter, for the most part, is filled with the most random of postings.  It's sort of, at least to me, a platform for ranting about what's wrong in life with the appropriate "hashtag".  Of course public debate, passive aggressive "arguing", and people shooting down opinions also exist.  But if you're like me--and don't have many followers--then for the most part your twitter feed is pretty tame, aside from the occasional drama that may spill over.

Facebook has become a cesspool of negativity and politically drawn battle lines.  It's an opinionated war zone that seems much more like a scene from news coverage of the Iraq War than the place I once remembered; a place where the parade of drunken pictures from the previous night's festivities began sometime around Sunday afternoon and continued into the early hours of Monday.  By and large I've noticed that most of my friends and I don't really use Facebook that often except to use its chat feature (because not everyone uses Google!).  A few friends are still there though and sharing memes and what not, but even still, the social landscape of Facebook has changed.  Facebook now resembles an vast desert, like the planet Naboo from Star Wars, than the lush forest it once was.

Google+ was anything but; and is to this day the least politically fueled social network.  Just going onto my feed exposed me (based on what and who I followed) to the latest trends in science and technology.  What I always saw was people helping other people, sharing some awesome picture of a sunset while they were traveling, or posting some update about this or that scientific study.  Politics?  I'm most certain they existed (I'm not naive!), however because I was never following anything strictly political, and even my groups were always Meteorology and other STEM related, I never saw anything promoting this or that politician.

Now, what prompted Google to decide to shutter G+ was because allegedly there was a data breach that while Google fixed the issue did fail to advise the issue to the 500k users who were potentially affected.  That and Google claims that the social network just isn't used enough.  From my perspective this is just a drop in the bucket compared to the pervasive infractions against personal privacy that Facebook has not only committed and attempted to cover up, but has also tried to rope Google, Apple, Amazon, and any other tech company into the fiasco.  Sometimes I wonder how there are still millions of people on Facebook (then I remember my friends and I using their chat client and not willing to move elsewhere. D'oh.)

I think the greatest reason why I will continue to greatly appreciate G+ until I can no longer gain access around August 2019, and miss it after it's gone, is because at very least I could log on to a social network and just be me.  More than that I knew that logging on to G+ would leave me intellectually edified and in the know of those things that I actually cared about and wanted to know about.  It was nice knowing that I could access a social network where people were generally positive and were genuine (well, except for some of the bots, but those were rare).  But I suppose that wasn't good enough for Google.  In a way, I hope that perhaps something will come along to change Google's mind.

Just an idea: If you have a Google account and activate your Google Plus profile and begin sharing (if you haven't).  Maybe if Google sees a massive influx of users someone might think to themselves, maybe there's life still in her that's worth saving.

That Moment When Art Imitates Life

Most of the time--and this is no exception--Dilbert makes a comic that literally parallels how life at work is.

Source

An INTJ Overview

Sort of related to my post on life as an INTJ:  Here's an overview of the INTJ personality from a very well done video.  Of the many videos on my personality type, this one is a fantastic beginning to understand one of the most misunderstood personality types.

Welcome to Autumn

Autumn Has Arrived

Autumn in Missouri is off to a good start!  The weather has been typical of the Midwest roller coaster that's experienced every year.  The few crisp mornings we've had make me miss my time living near Chicago with all the lake fronts.  From looking at forecast models, it would seem that autumn has made a consistent appearence up north.  Here in Missouri the weather couldn't be more, as the locals say, "bipolar."  80s one day 60s the next.

Job Hunt & Work Woes

Since it's been made known to me that I'm likely stuck in my current position at work without any future considerations I've been looking around for other work.  So I've been giving my resume out and filling out job applications, and so far to no success.  Much of the time the feedback I've been receiving is that I'm just not experienced enough for this or that position.

Things on the job couldn't be more chaotic.  Unfortunately the schedule has been tossed around and I've been getting scheduled a lot of six day weeks!  This of course has been abandoning me adrift in stress and exhaustion.  After a six day stretch all I want is to be alone.  Without people.  Often after working 6 days I forget what day it is (thank God for Google!).

Baby's First Word!

Isabelle's first word is "hi."  As the days have gone by she has begun to build her vocabulary.  She's added "dad" to her words, and at least once has said "hi dad" when I've arrived home from work.  Some days I wonder what she'll say next.  Not long from now she will be crawling and so far has been working very well at developing her arm muscles and coordination to at least support herself.

My Daughter's First Cardinals Game

This past Sunday my wife and I took a trip with Isabelle to see the Cardinals play at Busch Stadium.  It was great to get out and visit Ballpark Village and experience the exciting atmosphere as the Cardinals won 9-2 over the Giants - sweeping the series.

As an added plus, the tickets we bought months ago came with a bonus: an opportunity to actually walk on the field!  It was awesome to be able to walk by the players as they were getting ready to play the game.  Definitely an opportunity I won't forget!

It was also Isabelle's very first Cardinals game!  She made it through the game pretty well cheering on the Cardinals and taking a couple naps.  Overall I think she handled the crowd well for a baby!

This was my second Cardinals game at Busch.  Being a Cardinals fan growing up in Illinois made most of my Cardinals games being seen at Wrigley Field in Chicago.  Not bad to note that so far the Cardinals have only lost one game that I've witnessed in a stadium.

We began the day with Mass at the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales, an absolute must for us every visit to St. Louis!

My Life As An INTJ

So, I'm pretty big on personality theory.  It's one of several things that still makes a lot of sense to me ever since I took the required, and very cerebral and fascinating, Introduction to Psychology course during my time spent in college.

Although we only received a short lesson - as part of our section on Karl Jung - the ideas on personality theory stuck around, like glue, to the neural pathways of my brain.  I discovered after taking a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment[1] (hereafter MBTI) that I scored as INTJ.  After learning what those four letters meant (Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging), and reading a description of that personality type, I discovered that there's a clear and concise logic to how I think and perceive the world. In a way I became a sort of convert to studying personality theory in my spare time - enough that I've been able to get scary close to figuring out someone's personality.

So, what does this have to do with my life?

Everything!

Run a Google search for "INTJ personality"[2] and you'll find a plethora of search results and information to look at.  As an INTJ I tend to be enthusiastic about a massive amount of information, because that is what I need for decision making and to make sense of what is going on.  Don't worry if you're not big on a lot of information to sift through though.  However, I would definitely ask that for the sake of INTJs all over the world (estimated ~2.5%) to read up on what makes us tick (and why do we always seem have a death stare going on?).

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[1]  The MBTI assessment I took three times per week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) over a period of four weeks and scored INTJ.  I only had to take it once for class, the rest of the attempts were entirely of my own initiative (I just had to eliminate any subjective bias).

[2]  Went ahead and did the search for you so all you have to do is click on the link to the search results.  You're welcome!

Reminiscence of Social Media Past

Recently, my wife and a couple of friends were discussing social media and how exhausting the internet, with all of its drama, has become.  The conversation eventually became a nostalgic guide through the late 1990s and early 2000s as well as a reminder of the "prehistoric" world that existed before Facebook and Twitter.

My Story...

Back in 1998 I was one of many thousands of people who had a LiveJournal.  LiveJournal was a blogging service filled with everything from the first fan fiction writings to the angst filled verses of amateur poets and song writers trying to express themselves.  Around that same time GeoCities was beginning to take off as the premier FREE website publishing server (now I think it's part of Yahoo! or something).  I had a GeoCities website which functioned as an outlet of my creativity and experimentation with HTML.  With a website or blog you didn't have a comment thread or any of that nonsense; you had this thing called a "guest book."  Across the web you could count on seeing the phrase: "Sign my guestbook!"

(Man it was a simpler time by comparison!)

Also at this time was a phenomenon called a "web ring."  Web rings were the thing that connected your website or blog to other websites or blogs.  To make your website/blog part of a web ring you would paste in an HTML code into your website.  Every time someone would find or visit your page they would be able to scroll to the bottom and click next and would immediately be taken to the next website in the web ring.  Eventually you could make it all the way around - hence the "ring" in web ring.  Web rings proved to be very useful for websites and blogs that had a common topic or interest.  I had a website (GeoCities) that was all about helping people learn HTML and was part of a web ring of the same topic.

All this was short lived though because something was emerging that would be the predecessor of all social networking:  Myspace.

Oh Myspace!  I set up my Myspace in 2003 and immediately noticed I could have a blog and website combined with a continuous comment thread!  It was the birth of the social network, although, at the time, no one I knew called it that.  The world of convenience was at your finger tips.  With Myspace users could "friend" someone and there was such a thing as having your top 8 friends.  It was a way that through blog posts, comments, and who your top 8 was that you could finally compare yourself to your friends.  The race for the most angst filled blog post and most edgy profile (profile songs too!) had begun!

In 2006 I received an invitation to join Facebook.  Since I was working as a college computer lab tech I was able to use my college email to sign up for Facebook.  Back then you could do more than just poke your friends - you could throw a sheep at them or even defenestrate them!  Facebook wasn't serious.  It was that thing you did to keep up with friends and brag about getting enrolled in classes.  When you signed up you had to belong to a "network" which meant that you had to have a valid university email address.

The rest as they say is history: Facebook eventually opened itself up, so now everyone and their five cousins and their grandma are on Facebook.  Heck, I've heard a rumor that some places have started Facebook classes that teach people how to use it!

What has it all become?

It seems anymore that not just Facebook, but all of social media has become an outlet for the very worst of society.  We have become as the sophists of ancient Greece, neither caring for, or much less interested in, what is true, real, and good.  Even our politicians (i.e. President Trump) have given in to and have enabled a culture of living within the borders of 280 characters.  Social media has indeed become competition what 20 years ago was considered normal social interaction.  And at what cost?  We hate each other!  Rather, we hate what we perceive through our narrow lens of social media.

On the contrary it must be said Facebook and Twitter have been great ways for me to keep up with family and friends who live far off.  I mean, it really brightens my day to know that a former colleague got that job he wanted, or that my niece is enjoying school, or that old acquaintance from class was finally proposed to by the man of her dreams!  All this is absolutely wonderful, and I enjoy all the positive.

If there's one thing I wish social media was more of an outlet for, besides catching up with friends, I wish that it provided a constructive forum where ideas weren't needlessly trolled or savagely shot down with prejudice.  Perhaps I'm just babbling incoherent thought vomit, but could it be that maybe this is something?  At least, I enjoyed a cathartic reflection of a time, not long ago, where things seems - at very least - a bit more civilized.

On The Abuse Crisis Afflicting The Church

My thoughts on the current crisis affecting the Roman Catholic Church in the United States:

It has taken a long while for me to accurately and charitably compile my thoughts in regards to the sex abuse crisis, so please bear with me.

First of all, this is just absolutely tragic. In fact, it is absolutely diabolical and completely inexcusable! What more as the weeks and days go on it seems more and more likely that some of the Bishops, and even those beyond the US borders, have completely forsaken the teachings of the Church; trading them in for depravity and savagery!

I too am greatly disturbed and at times ponder, in anger, how this could have happened. After all, I was once a seminarian (albeit for a brief time) and I never observed or witnessed any of this happening.  The idea of this happening is such a foreign concept to what I know to be true Catholic teaching that I'm left mesmerized. In fact, as part of my interview prior to being accepted it was made explicitly clear that if I was not in good standing with the teachings of the Church, and more so actively following well those teachings, then I would not be admitted to formation towards the Priesthood.

Yet, somehow these Bishops and Priests were accepted into their respective formation programs and were ordained. But how??? It is as Pope Paul VI is quoted as saying, "It is as if from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the Church." (emphasis mine) It fills me with anger and dismay that ANY man ordained to the Priesthood would knowingly permit or perpetrate this kind of nonsensical barbarism!

However, I realize something crucial. These men, regardless of everything, clearly had no intent on teaching according to Church teaching or even living according to Church teaching. These men are frauds and DO NOT represent what the Catholic Church actually teaches. These men, in living their grotesque, sinful life were very boldly sinning not just against their victims but also against God and His Church. I also realize that when someone acts AGAINST Church teaching in such a grave manner that they effectively are committing an act of apostasy against the faith. St. Francis de Sales suggests that such a lack of charity (love) prevents God from being able to work through the person, because they are not open to God, but rather only to themselves.

There is much more that can be commented on from every angle, however there is absolutely NOTHING that can possibly undo what has been done. There is nothing that anyone can say that can sooth the absolute and terrifying hurt and devastation clearly felt by those affected. All anyone can really do is pray. Pray for our Bishops and Priests that they have the courage to root out the rot present in the Church today.

From my own perspective I can say that I agree with the article I attached to this post (please read!). In some way, for many, many years, I have held to question many things that appeared after the Second Vatican Council. That is not the same as to say that Vatican II is the root cause, but a lot of things that happened in the Church starting in 1968 were heavily endorsed by people like McCarrick and others who permitted his actions to continue.

As much as McCarrick has attempted to pervert the teachings of the Church, he has failed. The teachings of the Church, independent of the personal opinion of individuals inside her walls, continues to condemn McCarricks actions and calls him and all of us poor sinners to conversion.

Article: The abuse crisis casts doubt on the whole post-Vatican II settlement | CatholicHerald.co.uk 

Guess I Crossed The Line?

As I'm sipping my coffee this morning and looking at my social media this morning I can't help but notice that I think I may have crossed over into a new phase of my life on Twitter.  As of the moment I've reached more followers than pages/people I follow.  So I guess that's something.

I've never kept track of, cared about, or taken notice of how many followers I have.  The way I see things on Twitter is the same way I see things on any web presence I have.  Blogs and social media are just outlets I use to express and give some semblance of life to my thoughts.

What does this even mean?  Have I accomplished something?

From my perspective all I think I can really say is, cheers to all those fine individuals who somehow find my rubbish in some way useful or tolerable in your day to day lives.  I'll try to keep things interesting.

To all those who find my rubbish nauseating at best or intolerable I ask, why do you keep watching on?  What have you come to see?

My Daughter Is 3 Months Old & Other Updates

My Baby Girl

How time flies!  It seems like yesterday she was born.

I'm impressed every day at how she's growing and developing.  Already she is sitting up (with assistance), grabbing and lifting toward her mouth, and babbling.  Speaking of babbling; her babbles sound more and more like language than just little coos.  Could she be an early talker?

Parenting - at least for the moment - is relatively easy.  Sometimes I get caught up thinking that my child is just the most perfect person to ever walk the Earth (of courseI'm sure every parent thinks this).  To an extent though it does seem at times that my little girl is becoming an overachiever like her dad.

But enough about her - I could go on about child development theory and what milestones she's getting close to, and how quickly she's achieving them.

Work v. Life Balance

Still working as an Optician, however it has become apparent to me that those above my boss won't open up my position to be full time.  While I have enough hours it's unfortunate that it's just enough.  In a manner of speaking I've come to a crossroad.  I can try to move elsewhere within a company I've worked at prior (in college) and apply my previous experience as a cashier and negotiate a full time position as a supervisor.  The other option I have is to keep looking around and applying for jobs, many of which are either in the medical field or in manufacturing.

Most of the opportunities for work that relate to my experience and tenure of my resume unfortunately don't pay very well, and leaping into another field of work inevitably means facing the unknown and risking not knowing anything about a job.  Most who know me well know that I prefer to expand within my academic goals and experience.  With most of my experience in typical white collar jobs it would be quite a transition to accept a blue collar position.

Plans To Continue My Education?

Since I left the Chicago suburbs - due to financial aid difficulties and inability to fund my own education - I've discovered through colleagues and others that there's a very slim job market for Meteorologists.  This of course I've taken into account, and after a couple years of thought and reflection on my academic career I've decided to make a slight adjustment to my academic plans.

During my time studying in the suburbs of Chicago I thought very seriously about a double major in Computer Science, given my enjoyment of computer programming and ability to work with computers on more than a basic level.  As I've discussed my interests and knowledge with my wife and friends it's apparent to me that perhaps I should consider well pursuing a career in IT.  The more I look into it the more I see a promising job market.  So this is definitely an option I'm greatly considering!

"But what of Meteorology?  Chasing storms?  Aren't you throwing all your learning and work away?"

Goodness no!  The weather will always be an interest, and I'd never carelessly throw away a piece of information on a whim.  I'll continue my interest as precisely that, an interest.  I'll still make observations and give reports via social networks to the National Weather Service.  It's just that I've decided to step back from a childhood dream and pursue something different, that's still an interest I've had since childhood.

So for now I've decided to teach myself the Python programming language.  After that probably Java as it seems knowing C and Java are good starting points and Python is a good bonus.  There's also certification sequences I can learn that can give me a start in IT related work.

So... long update!  There's been a lot on my mind and I've been itching to write and get my thoughts out, so... yeah.  You should probably know I can be long winded anyway 😜.

Utilitarian Relationships Refuted

This is something I wrote on Facebook a few years ago that I think is very much true today as it was when I originally wrote it.

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What's wrong with society nowadays is that we no longer really care about anything other than our egos. There is a trend whereby we love others so long as they remain perfect or at best beneficial to us. This is what makes most relationships one way. Essentially society has slowly led us to accepting utilitarian means as a normal part of relationships. Now this isn't to say that a business, or professional, relationship with an employer or a restaurant that one may frequent is bad, or somehow wrong. It is clear that there is an appropriate place for every kind of relationship. However here I focus on those relationships where no transactions of goods and services occur.

So what happens when we deem someone a "disservice" to us, or they come into some hardship, or perceive that someone has done some "irreparable wrong" to us? We typically react in one of two ways.

The first way is passive aggressive wherein we cower away from said person. We seem to develop an irrational fear which over the long haul prevents us from ever really having closure, or even seeking out opportunities to really reconcile or repair the break in the relationship. We choose to dehumanize that person and see them as a potential enemy, because that makes coping with the situation immediately easy. Thus we continue on our way never really attaining understanding. We just simply cut them off, because how could someone ever really be capable of good decisions when they made a less than perfect decision? In our minds we rationalize that every good decision really was not a good decision, and therefore was a lie disguised through whatever rose-colored lens we chose to see them in.

The second way is much more vicious. We attack them. We deliberately make them feel as though they are not capable of being good. We kick them when they are down. We say things that while to our perception seems good are actually negative things that bring the person down. We trap the person in a box with a label be it liar, thief, cheater, stupid, worthless... it's all negative. When that other person moves on with their life and in our eyes attempts to get out of the box we are quick to shove them back in. We make demands and bargains for the person to obey that are so ridiculous and impossible for the person that we give them no choice but to stay in the box. Because that is what we want. We want revenge! We want blood! And we want it two weeks ago!

While it feels good at the moment, because we get to be the one to make a stand, dispense discipline and punishment, be the one who wins, we miss out on an opportunity to really make peace and reach a common understanding. Because a juicy, vivid lie is much better than the dry, seemingly uninteresting truth.

If I may propose an alternative. What if we stopped crucifying every person who crosses us in some way? What if we stopped scapegoating someone just because we don't like them or don't like what they have to say. The next time someone crosses us, let us aim to understand. Come to understand what is going on in the person's life. Yeah, it's the hard way. Yeah, it doesn't make us feel good. But let's take a moment and realize that it's not about us or even the other person. It's about the dignity of the human person. It's about the fact that whether we like it or not that person is going to exist and keep existing on the same planet as us, and we might as well actually put in the effort to actually reach the peace we so often claim we desire - without seeking blood or revenge.

However, this is difficult. It requires we have to put aside how we feel about the person or situation and actually take the time to extend the olive branch and bury the hatchet. And for many, many people this seems like such an impossible task. Who knows, maybe the other person is offering the olive branch and you have your head jammed so far up your own butt that right now you can't see that.

Why I Left LinkedIn

Those who know me won't be surprised to learn that after several years of inactivity I have left LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is a social network where you can post your resume and connect with others on the job market.

So, why did I leave?

Well, just as in other postings I've made, I'm cutting down on my social network usage.  With LinkedIn I had a profile set up with my work history and resume, and for a while it was cool to check in and see what new connections I was suggested.  Sure it was great when I received an endorsement on my skills ranging from public speaking to various tenets of computer knowledge, however I never actually used the site, and overall I was dissatisfied.

With all the jobs out there I've applied to - that give the option to apply with LinkedIn - it seemed redundant to import my information, and then fill out the exact same information that was on my profile.

Okay, okay, okay, I probably didn't take full advantage of LinkedIn.  You're right, I didn't.  I just didn't have the drive.  Overall, I've found better usage on job sites such as Indeed.com.  Also, I have a tendency to prefer the old fashioned way of applying for jobs: in person or directly through a company's website!

So, while you won't see me on LinkedIn there are a couple of ways to connect with me via a social network:

Twitter:  @noherp2012
My Twitter handle is used more often than even my Facebook*.  I've been on Twitter since 2009 and pretty much don't take it as seriously (although I've been known to post anything interesting or remotely controversial 😏).  So pretty much I just use it as an outlet for the random happenings of life (hmm, kind of like a 240 character blog post...) what in common parlance is called shitposting.  Seriously, if you're into that sort of thing I'm not going to stop you from following me on Twitter.

Google+:  Link to profile towards top
Pretty much the entire point of my G+ is to utilize a GSuite service that comes free with my email account (like Blogger, YouTube, Drive, Docs, Groups, Photos, Sites, Maps, Keep, Calendar...).  But over the years I've kept it geared more towards sharing and posting stuff relevant to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and connecting with other people who share that common interest.

*Disclaimer: I only accept friend requests on Facebook from people I have actually met in the real world.

I do occasionally pop in and out of Goodreads, but only when I'm updating my reading progress.  Quite frankly I find Goodreads a mere convenient interface to share with others what I'm reading.  Aside from that don't expect me to be on there frequently.

Alright, so I do enjoy a good tangent every now and again, and given that my blog here is more about free writing and life updates I don't feel ashamed for my endless tangents or rants (probably followed by some family and a couple of friends than a random stranger).

That's all for now!  Now to get back to taking care of that pesky laundry that never actually goes away.

Surprise Birthday Weekend!

My wife had been planning something for a few weeks - and it totally surprised me!

I had planned to take the family to Illinois to visit my parents over my birthday weekend (turned 34... I think...) and that, of course, became the main focal point of the trip.  It was great to give Isabelle time to spend with her grandparents and her uncles, aunts, and cousins who came to join in the fun.  After all, family is important, and it's good to make sure children are exposed to their family members - no matter how odd they may be.

That turned out to not be the only fun that happened, as my dear wife invited my best friends - a few who I haven't seen since the wedding - into town to surprise me with their presence.  I had a fantastic time catching up with everyone, and I was incredibly honored by the event.

So, to all my friends, and especially my dearest wife: Thank you!

Review: The Gods Themselves

The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



View all my reviews

Of Traditionalist Backbiting

There is a problem my fellow lay faithful. It is a cancer, and it grows among us to stifle out all of our efforts to preserve, defend, and promulgate the Traditions of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. This problem is backbiting.

So what is backbiting?

St. Thomas Aquinas, in the Summa Theologica (IIa. IIae. Q. 73) tells us that "Just as one man injures another by deed in two ways,--openly, as by robbery or by doing him any kind of violence,--and secretly, as by theft, or by a crafty blow, so again one man injures another by words in two ways;--in one way, openly, and in this done by reviling him, as stated above (Q. 72, A. 1),--and in another secretly, and this is backbiting."  Backbiting is thus a sin against charity, because it seeks to speak ill of another in order to detract from the good name or reputation of that person. However, among traditional Catholics this is done on a more subtle and larger scale.

There are some who would say I am with SSPX!, and another that would say I am with the Institute!, others still would say I am with the Fraternity!, and still, those who would say that they are with whatever sort of Traditional Latin Mass that they go to.  Some, even so, go so far as to even say something along the lines of I am a _____ Catholic! and insert name of what religious community or Diocese is hosting their Latin Mass.

Is this madness not contrary to our very essence? Did not Jesus command us, "Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all the things whatsoever I have commanded you." In light of the mission of the Church and of the Traditional Catholic raison d'etre, it seems that much of the backbiting is over who is superior or who has a valid Mass. Why are we so divided?

"Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I indeed am of Paul; and I am of Apollo; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul then crucified for you? or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" These words from St. Paul (I Cor 1:12-13) should challenge us and give us something to reflect on. Said another way, was SSPX crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter? Nay! Christ suffered Crucifixion for you, and you were baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost!

Furthermore, when we say things such as I'm in the SSPX, or I'm a Fraternity Catholic, or a hundred other things, are not we rending the seamless garment of Christ? Yes, we say also that we are Traditional Catholics, and indeed we are Traditional Catholics. This distinction in many areas is very important, but will not be discussed now. By these things also, which innocently enough associate ourselves with our particular parish, unintentionally claim ourselves as members of that Priestly Society or diocese. It is inappropriate to claim that we belong to the SSPX, ICRSS, FSSP, or any religious order and diocese unless we have received consecrations or admittance to their ranks! This of course means that unless you are a third order, lay associate, seminarian, religious brother/sister, or Priest, you may not claim to be a member.

To overcome some of the backbiting and what can be referred to as "infighting" there are only three criteria that Traditional Catholics should ever have when looking for a Traditional Latin Mass to assist at:

1. The use of the 1962 Roman Missal
2. Recognition of the current Pope as truly the Vicar of Christ and successor of St. Peter
3. Adherence to the Traditions and Teaching of Holy Mother Church

Let us all pray, uniting our prayers to the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary for better unity among all traditionalists. May our work to promulgate the traditions and teachings of the Church which for 60 years have been under attack, and even forgotten in many places, be brought to fruition by God's grace and providence!

Book Review: Pascendi Gregis

Pascendi Dominici Gregis by Pope Pius X
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An absolutely a fantastic work! In Pascendi, Pope St. Pius X exposes many of the erroneous philosophies which continue to assail the Catholic Church and even the world today. Pope St. Pius X will challenge you to really examine and think objectively about some of the common thoughts and ideas in our modern world. However, the reader is not left with a list of problems and diagnosis of what is wrong with the world. A remedy and well reasoned solution is proposed by Pope St. Pius X that really made me think!

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16 Days Into Fatherhood

Yep, you could say that reality is starting to sink in. This is my life now. A life of caring for more than just me. It's about the family now. By now most parents I've encountered would be exhausted and probably ready to give up. Nope, not me! I've come to realize that sometimes in those moments when the baby is asleep, when suddenly it seems like equilibrium has been restored are those very moments when taking a quick nap or seizing the opportunity to take care of a chore or two.

I finally said to Jessica this morning, "I think our days of sleeping in a little are over." She gave me an exhausted, emotionally drained look, of course, as if to say, well, duh, you think? Overall I think we are getting the hang of things.

Amidst it all Isabelle continues to amaze me! She's already trying to get her arms and legs into motion to crawl, although the mechanics need to get worked out some. In some ways it seems like she's taking after her dad in being an overachiever. This has got me thinking what will I do if she becomes an overachiever or starts to get ahead of other kids her age? And I think that I'm just going to encourage her. I can't wait to see how her personality and natural talents will develop over the course of her life.

New Baby Has Arrived!

A little late on this update, but understandably I've been busy!

On April 25th (just a week and a half ago!) at 6:15 pm Jessica and I welcomed our baby girl to the family naming her Isabelle Claire. Weight at birth was just under 6 lbs, but don't let her small size fool you. She passed her tests with flying colors and so far, at home, has made an attempt to try learning how to crawl, so she just may yet be an overachiever like her dad!

All the excitement at everything she does comes at the very small price of being just a little fatigued. But that is okay! What is interesting is that I was advised by some parents during Jessica's pregnancy "Oh, that first week is so hard. Watch out!" The first week with Isabelle home was probably anything but as hard, or terrible as some say. That is not to say that my experience with fatherhood is the exception--or even the rule--but rather I count myself fortunate and blessed that my wife and I have somehow narrowly escaped the drastic changes Isabelle has no doubt brought to our family life.

Jessica and I thank everyone for the continued support and prayers on our behalf as we get settled in what is now our new reality. And you know something? It just isn't that bad.

Altering My Use of Social Media - Part 2

So, a couple months ago I decided to take the Facebook app off my phone. (You can read about my reasons here.) After a couple of months of not using Facebook on my phone I've discovered more than just some space and battery being saved.

From time to time I just get into a mood. A real mood. A mood to write, blog, tinker with a website, or practice my coding (C++). I have to be honest those notifications were getting in the way of things I wanted to do, and much more than I thought.

After seeing the results of two months without Facebook on my phone, I've decided to keep it off my phone. I'm still going to use Facebook, but I've discovered that I only use it to keep in touch with friends and share... well... pointless stuff. A lot of what I share on Facebook is a lot of inside jokes that only friends and family members understand, so that's also why I don't accept friend requests from anyone unless I've actually met them (you know, in like real life).

As much as I still use social networking I've found that my main outlet is Twitter or Google+. It's not that Facebook doesn't cut it for me, or that I don't find it entertaining. It's mostly the fact that the amount of time I spend on Twitter and Google is considerably less than what I spend on Facebook.

That being said, I've been able to find more time for blogging - which presently is my best medium for writing and getting my thoughts out. So, until next time...

Baby Countdown

In case any of you have been completely out of the loop in the last several months: Jessica and I will are expecting the birth of our first child by approximately the end of the month or the first part of May. It's an exciting time filled with getting the crib ready, making sure we have enough diapers (at this point we have the equivalent of a Wal-Mart distribution center!), and packing the hospital bag that we'll be taking with us.

I think that, as much as we can be, we are ready. Now we wait!

The Scandal of Fr. Martin, SJ

Once again Fr. James Martin is taking to Twitter. This time in praise of another Priest who recently was arrested for protesting immigration reform. This other Priest did state publicly that his intent was to be arrested. And today Fr. Martin tweets: "Fr ThomasReeseSJ arrested in US Senate during protest on behalf of Dreamers. On the Mount of Beatitudes today in the Holy Land we read out Jesus's words: 'Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sale of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' So blessed is he!"

To clarify - before we continue - and may it be clear that the Church does not endorse illegal activity, and most certainly discourages against purposely breaking the law!

On the outside, this looks like a harmless tweet in support of a brother Priest defending the downtrodden. There is no need to bring up politics, so none will be discussed. However, underlying this tweet, with the accompanied verse from St. Matthews Gospel, is a Pandora's box of, as is the norm with Fr. Martin, pushing a political agenda. What's more is that this sort of grandstanding was done on social media to make a political, not catechetical point.

This grandstanding was actually what Christ warns us against shortly later in Matthew 6:1-5 wherein Jesus says, "Take heed that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by them: otherwise you shall not have a reward of your Father who is in heaven. Therefore when thou dost an almsdeed, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honoured by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. But when thou dost alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth. That thy alms may be in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret will repay thee. And when ye pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, that love to stand and pray in the synagogues and corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men: Amen I say to you, they have received their reward."

So what is the crux of the matter here?

What makes Fr. Martin's tweet problematic is that it is a tweet that reads much more like look at how great I am. Look at how great this Priest is. In no way is any credit given to our blessed Lord! Moreover, the use of scripture to back up a publicly premeditated intent to break the law essentially flies in the face of reason, and further abuses the words of Christ to exhalt, when on the contrary one should always be humble when doing God's service (even if somehow the law of the land enters the scene).

Just as with all of Fr. Martin's social network activity, it is beyond a reasonable doubt that, even with the best possible of intents, his activity is scandalous. In the Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas states, "Scandal is, therefore, fittingly defined as something less rightly done or said, that occasions another's spiritual downfall." (ST II-II Q.43 A.1) With such a definition it is hard to believe how the tweets associated with Fr. Martin can not be an occasion of scandal for souls. Repeatedly denouncing the faith of those who do not share his opinion, by the use of name calling and other such word play reserved for children who do not know better, has a great risk scandalizing souls by way of sowing confusion and mistrust of his fellow Priests and religious - who rightly should be trusted by the lay faithful.

The grandstanding, name calling, and scandalous activity evident on his Twitter feed is not becoming of one who claims to be an alter Christus, that is, another Christ, but becoming of one who enables a victim mentality among followers, some who, in a seeming chorus, repeat his slurs and perjuries against those who have honest questions, or who disagree. This bullying by his followers is scandalous too, because they claim to want an end to the apparent "bully pulpit" as also Fr. Martin claims. So why the appearance of hypocrisy? Possibly because once you establish your role as a victim, it is not difficult to find all sorts of justification - even scriptural - for all sorts of bad, reckless behavior. Such a mindset is harmful as it is often difficult to see how one could be harming others despite one's desire for help.

Some are not scandalized, which is very good. In this sense Fr. Martin may only be scandalous to those who are not fortified well in their understanding or practice of faith. It may be possible too, since once cannot truly know Fr. Martin's intents or motives, that it may be a case of what St. Thomas Aquinas calls passive scandal. St. Thomas Aquinas tells us that "One man's word or deed is the accidental cause of another's sin, when he neither intends to lead him into sin, and yet this other one, though being ill-disposed, is led into sin, for instance, into envy of another's good, and then he who does this righteous act, does not, so far as he is concerned, afford an occasion of the other's downfall... Wherefore this is passive scandal, since he that acts rightly does not for his own part, afford the occasion of another's downfall." (ST II-II Q.43 A.1)

It is perfectly understandable at times that it is difficult not to perceive that despite all else that what appears to be is as St. Thomas Aquinas defines as active scandal. Active scandal of course is much more severe and is a great stumbling block to these little ones. As is universal, cases of scandal must be avoided to preserve all from sin and spiritual misfortune.

Get Excited: Han Solo Movie

This will either do tremendous justice to Han Solo or it will be an overdone action movie that flops. Either way, I will definitely see it.

Altering My Use Of Social Media

In this age of the world it is very common to be helplessly connected to social media. One might even say that it has become necessary, if not unavoidable. Heck, anyone with a Gmail has access to Google+ -- Google's social network. So of course, like me, you probably use social media and most likely have an app on your phone or tablet.

As it is, I enjoy the convenience of social media apps. It makes keeping up with friends and family a breeze. It also means that I must be prepared to charge my phone by keeping an adapter at the ready. The notifications popping up really demand a lot of attention if you don't like things waiting in queue. Have I mentioned the battery usage?

The problem that come with social media mean carelessly, if not intentionally, poking a nose into every sort of textual wrestling match and backbiting that rears its ugly head at every turn. Like many who intend well I'll gladly assert a theological point, a personal opinion, or even some critique of reason when the situation calls. But at what point is all this just a mindless distraction?

So I decision to delete Facebook off of my phone and tablet.

"Oh my gosh, finally!"

"Oh geez, look who's on his soap box!"

"So what, you were usually too busy to care anyway."

"Good riddance!"

Wait, wait, I still use Facebook, but from a computer. Remember all the endless bickering on social media? Well, I do enjoy a good and well reasoned discussion. On the contrary, my life isn't what it once was. I'm married and have a family. My responsibilities have changed.

While I briefly studied for the Priesthood I didn't have time for social media. So I wasn't on, but periodically. While I studied for Meteorology for a time I didn't have a lot of time for social media, except maybe in the spare moments between classes and when I was killing time. So I wasn't always on. Now as a family man I'm on whenever I get the chance - which is sometimes.

"So you're turning into one of those people who calls cell phones 'idiot boxes' and hates social media?"

Nope. I love technology! Actually, I very much promote its integration in society as many online tools and apps have tremendous potential when it comes to productivity. I highly recommend Google Suite products for instance. Also, not every social media app is going off. Just Facebook. Google+ and Twitter will still reside on my devices, because they take up less space. Quite frankly, the only thing that would keep the Facebook app on my phone or tablet would be if the app itself didn't obliterate my battery. In comparison, Google and Twitter take up much less battery.

So that's the latest from yours truly.