I can hardly stand it!

We're so close to being able to move into our new house, that its not even funny! Its like being in a full body cast, and its getting close to the time you're supposed to be getting it off, and you have a recurring itch that you can't scratch because of the cast. Thats basically how my entire famliy is feeling right now. Hopefully we'll be able to itch... er... I mean move this weekend!

Time for a little 'Zesty' update!

Well have I played the part of the negligent writer these days past, of which number there are not few. With the longing of the bee, who yearns for his work, have I wanted to word my adventures of these days. But, alas! I have been denied those things which the completing of this task necissitates, the chief of which I name as the lack of internet access. Coupled with the lack of material to write about is the you can discern the cause of my negligence!

Seriously though, I have been extremely busy since my last post, and I haven't even had time to think about what has happened since my last post until now. I will now attempt, however, to lay down as best as I am able the events spanning from my last post until now. Now let's see...

If my memory serves me well, the first major activity that I was able to engage in would be flying on the 15th, followed by another on the 17th. Both focused soley on Touch and Goes, which is basically flying in the traffic pattern at the airport, landing and taking right back off, then doing it all over again. On the fifteenth, my flares( the part of the landing on final approach where I transition from the landing attitude to the touch down attitude) were really rough, which led to some rather bumpy landings. This was rather frustrating to me, but I was able to improve it on my flight on the 17th, on which all of my landings were better, and I had two really good ones. I hopefully be going flying tomorrow, and if I am able to nail my flares and be consistent on my landings, then I will be able to solo!

Saturday was the next day full of activities. To start it all off, we made a trip up to Canada to attend my cousins baptism. It was done in the traditional Latin rite by an Australian priest from the Fraternity of St. Peter, who was visiting the Archdiocese of Vancouver. The most moving part of the ceremony, however was when the priest took the baby in his arms, walked up to the statue of Mary to the side of the altar, and holding him out towards the statue, consecrated him to Mary. Afterwards, we had a jolly good time eating lunch, walking around downtown Vancouver, and talking with the priest about everything under the sun. Then we headed back to the church and went to confession, followed by a private Mass. I can't think of a day that was as well spent as Saturday, nor a better birthday.

Sunday was spent in Seattle seeing a production of Singin' in the Rain goin down at the Fifth Avenue Theater. The theater was simply magnificient, as was the performance. Definitely worth seeing says I!

And that is all I can remember, and hopefully thats all I did. It would be really bad if I had done something worth remembering and didn't remember it, if y'know what I mean;)

Happy St. Valentine's Day

The Origins of St. Valentine's Day

A quick quiz: St. Valentine was:

a) a priest in the Roman Empire who helped persecuted Christians during the reign of Claudius II, was thrown in jail and later beheaded on Feb. 14.
b) a Catholic bishop of Terni who was beheaded, also during the reign of Claudius II.
c) someone who secretly married couples when marriage was forbidden, or suffered in Africa, or wrote letters to his jailer's daughter, and was probably beheaded.
d) all, some, or possibly none of the above.

If you guessed d), give yourself a box of chocolates. Although the mid-February holiday celebrating love and lovers remains wildly popular, the confusion over its origins led the Catholic Church, in 1969, to drop St. Valentine's Day from the Roman calendar of official, worldwide Catholic feasts. (Those highly sought-after days are reserved for saints with more clear historical record. After all, the saints are real individuals for us to imitate.) Some parishes, however, observe the feast of St. Valentine.

The roots of St. Valentine's Day lie in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, which was celebrated on Feb. 15. For 800 years the Romans had dedicated this day to the god Lupercus. On Lupercalia, a young man would draw the name of a young woman in a lottery and would then keep the woman as a sexual companion for the year.

Pope Gelasius I was, understandably, less than thrilled with this custom. So he changed the lottery to have both young men and women draw the names of saints whom they would then emulate for the year (a change that no doubt disappointed a few young men). Instead of Lupercus, the patron of the feast became Valentine. For Roman men, the day continued to be an occasion to seek the affections of women, and it became a tradition to give out handwritten messages of admiration that included Valentine's name.

There was also a conventional belief in Europe during the Middle Ages that birds chose their partners in the middle of February. Thus the day was dedicated to love, and people observed it by writing love letters and sending small gifts to their beloved. Legend has it that Charles, duke of Orleans, sent the first real Valentine card to his wife in 1415, when he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. (He, however, was not beheaded, and died a half-century later of old age.)

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Thanks to American Catholic for this information!

Egads!!!!

Have you ever been preoccupied, but you can't figure out what it is that your preoccupied about? Well, I've been that way for a couple of days now, and I just can't seem to sluff it off! If anyone has any advice as to how to get over something like this, I would be greatly appreciate it!

"Remember you are dust,..."

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, which marks the begining of the forty days of fasting and penitence known as Lent in the Catholic Church. I am extremely looking forward to it this year as a time for some serious spiritual growth. Last year we kicked lent off with a viewing of Mel Gibson's, "The Passion of the Christ", followed by a 24-30 hour fast and guys's retreat. I think this year, only the girls will be having a retreat, but I plan on watching, "The Passion", again sometime during Lent. Another aspect of this upcoming season, is the willful giving up of something you enjoy for the duration. I have yet to think of what I am giving up, and despite my tradition I will NOT be giving up coffee. I will however be limiting myself to 1(one) cup of the brown goodness per day.

What are you going to be doing for Lent, and why? Also, if you happen to have any ideas as to some other things that I might be able to do, please go ahead and spout them off in the comments box.

So I was just...

...standing here at work waiting for a customer to help, when a rather largish chap walked up to my window. While I was helping him I happened to read his shirt, which stated the following, "The voices aren't real, but they sure have some good ideas."! Sheer Brilliance says I!

Simply amazing!

I was just sitting here at work pondering about nothing in particuliar, when I realized that in just 15 days, I will be one year from my second decade! Its really kinda bizarre to think of it like that, but it also lends itself to a certain feeling of accomplishment! Also our good friend Dr. Jerome will be one year from her second decade in just six days, and Mary K. in...uh... I can't really remember the exact day, but its in May sometime, so a couple of months for her yet.

A comedy of errors!

A comedy of errors! Thats the best way I can think of to describe the chain of events yesterday that involved the delivery of our house.

It all started out very wonderfully, actually! As I was coming home from Everett after having just been flying, I ended up getting behind and following the trucks pulling the two halves of our house. That was pretty awesome, as I was able to call home and sound the alert for them to get everything in order. As we made our way up to our house, we passed the Kennedy's house, and they were all jubilantly out in the yard video-taping and taking pictures of this fateful day. After forcing many cars off of the road, we finally made it to our property.

After making it around the two trucks I hurridley drove to the back of property to watch the proceedings with all who had gathered to watch. All told there was probably about 25 people gathered to watch this momentous occasion, including the Kennedy's, and multiple neighbors. No pressure on the guys bringing it in or anything, as we were only photographig every little move they made.

To start the comedy of errors, while they were pulling the trailers off of the road, they bent the axel on one, and blew one of the tires out on the other. After this little escapade, they realized that they had set up the site wrong, so they were going to have to BACK the trailers all the way into position! That was fairly interesting, and in the midst of backing the back half onto the foundation, they got their little towing tractor stuck. They then attempted to get it unstuck using their truck and only succeeded in getting it stuck. So, with a little bit of shovel work, and couple of huffs and puffs, we managed to get them unstuck.

Then they found that they had started putting it in at the wrong angle, and had to get it remaneuvered. And finally after almost two hours, they got the back half onto the foundation, after which I left for work. I was told however, that they then spent until dark trying to get the other trailer unstuck, because they had parked it on unknowingly on a patch of ground that was just soft enough for the 40,000 lb half of our house to sink into the ground. So they came out this morning to get the other half moved on to the concrete.

To top it all off, however, they also forgot to add in the fourth bedroom, which incidentially happens to be Alex and I's room. And they forgot to take out a half wall which we asked them to. And that is more or less the saga of our home!