Fish Fry Friday

I am now on vacation for a week!!

This week at work was great! No students around because it is spring break. It's quiet on campus, almost a little eerie. But the best part is not getting run over by students on cell phones when you try to walk across campus. Oh, and parking is great!! I can actually get to work at 9pm or later and still get a great spot. But that's over now. My parking permit goes back to being a hunting pass.

But I have another week before I have to deal with it. I decided to take a week of vacation, but not go anywhere! I'm looking forward to being able to catch up with things at home, do wedding stuff, and run errands when most people are at work. My mother, sister, and neice are coming to visit at the end of the week, too.

Tonight we had the Fish Fry at Church. We got there when it opened at 5pm and had dinner together. Then we took a short walk around the block the church is on before our meeting with Father Frank at 6pm. We had met with Father Paul about wedding stuff previously, but now that Father Frank is doing the wedding we needed to review everything. He also already knows us and we just reviewed what was required and we brought him up to speed on what we had already done so far. It was a nice meeting. He gave us the (157 question) survey that we need to individually (no cheating) fill out and return to him. Plus we had to sign an affadavit about being Catholic and raising our kids Catholic, etc. And we have a form for a witness to fill out, someone who has known us a very long time, that basically says that we are entering into this marriage of our own free will, etc., etc. We figure the matron-of-honor and the best man can each fill it out for us. Of course, we also got onto other topics with Father, such as YAACK and how things are going with that; he gave us other book suggestions and he was thrilled with the book we had chosen already, which he loved, had written a book review for in the past, and said he would love to read it again.

Actually, Father Paul called me at work today to inquire about YAACK's new format and to confirm another event with me. He also wants a copy of our chosen book and is thinking of trying to come to the first of our book discussions.

That was basically our evening. Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day!! Wear your green!!

Dancing and Books!!

Dancing and Books?? Well, not together. Tuesday we went dancing. We had a free dance lesson at the Arthur Murray studio here in Lexington. It was fun!! We signed up for 20 more lessons for between now and the wedding. We spent a half hour with a private instructor who showed us basic steps that could be used for various dances. Overall she showed us basic steps and timings to the Foxtrot, Waltz, Rumba, and Swing. I really had a good time.

The lessons are a little expensive, but as students at the studio we can also participate in any of their Newcomer classes and their Friday dances. We figured that we get twice for our money if we go to at least one Newcomer class for each private lesson, plus the occasional Friday dance party.

Where do books fit in to this? Well, they don't ... exactly. Read on ...

Wednesday night we had our Young Adult meeting at church and we introduced a new format. This group has traditionally met every week and our numbers are so small that it was getting very difficult to do that. So, we changed the format. Now we'll be meeting twice a month. We decided that we'll be using one Wednesday to read and discuss a book and the other Wednesday to just have a social. Tonight we just had our organizational meeting. I had copies of the first book we're going to delve into as well as a list with descriptions of other books that I thought we could try. We had 11 people there tonight!! That's a good turnout for us. And, everyone there was excited about reading the books I have picked out. Our first book is Letters to Young Catholic by George Weigel. After tonight's meeting I feel more energized about YAACK than I have in a long time.

If anyone out there has book suggestions, let me know, leave a comment below. We are focusing on Catholic-based books, nonfiction and some fiction. I'm trying to get a variety of books, and nothing too heavily theological. I want things that will be educational and intellectually-stimulating, but not something that is going to be over our heads. I want to add some fiction in there as well to keep things interesting. I also think the occasional movie based on a book we've read or something Christian/Catholic related would be fun to liven things up. Anyway, I am open to suggestions, so please let me know if you've read something that we can add to our list.

That's it from here!! Two days more of work before the weekend!! I hope everyone has their St. Patrick's Day plans for Saturday!!

Finally Gettin' Movin'

I'm finally getting some exercise. I think I mentioned that we went for a long walk on Sunday afternoon. Monday night I went to the Recreation Facility at a nearby Baptist church which has an indoor track that people can use for $15 a year. I did 51 laps last night, which equals 3 miles. And it was a pretty good pace too, I did 3 miles in an hour.

Tonight we have dancing lessons!! Hopefully the first of several!

Good night and blessing to all!!

Weekend Activities

We had a busy and fun weekend this weekend!! Didn't really get anything done around the house (except make the bed in the guest room for a friend who's staying over one night later this week), but sometimes it's good to just have a fun weekend.

Friday Chris and I tried two new things. First we went to a Vietnamese restaurant in town called Fusion Cafe. I made the incorrect assumption that like other far Eastern foods, they would have plenty of non-meat dishes to choose from. Not so, but we did find some shrimp dishes that were okay. We think we'll go back another time to try the meat dishes and the Pho. That seemed to be the popular thing to get, but all the Pho came with meat of some kind or another. Pho, apparently, is some kind of noodle soup. Maybe my old friend Tuan (Hi Tuan!! Hope you're still reading!) can give me some suggestions for the next time I try Vietnamese food.

After dinner we went downtown to an art gallery that I have been to many times. In the past I've been there during Lexington's Gallery Hop and occasionally for chamber music concerts that friends have performed in there. Besides are and music, they also do contra dancing!! I've actually wanted to go for years, but could never get up the nerve. So Chris and I went and had a blast. It was quite a bit of exercise, very evergetic, and lots of fun. There were probably around 75 people there and everyone was extremely friendly. If you don't know what you're doing people will point you in the right direction and I was often pushed into or suddenly swung into the right spot on numerous occasions. I'd defintely go back.

Saturday was basically a quiet day. That evening we joined a group of people from various area churches for dinner followed by bowling. We had about 12 or so people for dinner and then 7 of us went bowling. I only got a 69 in the first game, but improved and got a 98 in the second game. Chris did very well with a 118 in the first game and then got his highest score ever in the second game with a 150!!

Today was fairly relaxing: church, breakfast at Chris' house, reading the Sunday newspaper together, went for an hour-long walk in the Arboretum, and then a quick stop at the grocery before coming home for the night.

I have to be at Church for Adoration at 5:30am tomorrow (next week I can go back to 6am), so I need to head to bed very soon. Monday after work I'm planning a walk at the indoor track that I paid a year-long fee to and haven't been yet, then home for dinner and maybe some clarinet practice. Tuesday night we're going to our first dancing lessons (not contra dancing this time). Anyway, it's going to be another busy week.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!! Have a blessed, productive, and fun-filled week!!

Progress being made

Thursday is almost over and I am slowly making some progress on work this week. It's always hard to get back into the swing of things after being away for so long. Mostly I've been doing conference wrap-up stuff since I've been back in the office, but by tomorrow I hope to be back typing agendas and minutes for meetings, making budget requests for next year, doing committee work, and, oh yeah!, CATALOGING music materials. I love it when I can actually do the work I love the most, which seems to happen more and more infrequently these days.

Yesterday the photographer called and our engagement photos were in and ready for pick-up. I went right over after work (they look great!) and then took them to Chris' house. He has them now, but by doing that I got to see him again and he made dinner for me! :) That also meant that I got home late and didn't do any of the other things I wanted to do last night.

Tonight I have rehearsal. Our next concert is in May in the Opera House, which I always enjoy. I missed the first rehearsal of this cycle since I was in Pittsburgh, so I get to play the music tonight for the first time.

I'm also checking references on two wedding coordinators. I've met both and now I'm waiting to see what the refs say. Once that's done I can make a decision and then let that person handle all the last minute wedding details when the time comes! Yeah!!

Hope everyone has a nice night and a fun weekend! We have lots of stuff planned, but more on that later ...

Pittsburgh and Back

I am finally home!! It was a very long and busy week. But it was great to see my music librarian colleagues and reconnect with old friends!! Jennifer and I got caught up and the first thing she wanted to see was the ring! Bruce and I spent a lot of time together exchanging news, comparing our different work places, and getting into philosophical discussions. Marlene and I managed to grab breakfast together one morning and exchanged news about all the people we know in common. And I got to meet Tim's wife and their new puppy! Plus slowly word spread about my news and I had all sorts of people congratulating me and wanting to know about Chris. Socially, I had a great time. Especially going out to eat with a variety of people.

I was sick before leaving for Pittsburgh, which made the plane ride pretty terrible. The delays in Detroit did not help things at all. If it wasn't a February conference in Pittsburgh I would have considered driving (Pitt is about 6 hours from here), but I figured I'd be safer taking a plane. I was, but four gate changes later I was wishing I had driven. We finally left Detroit after midnight Monday night and I checked into the hotel around 2:30am Tuesday morning. Luckily the meeting we had planned on having at 8:30 was moved to 9:30am, so I was able to grab a little bit of sleep before having to be anywhere.

The MOUG meeting was really great. Lots of good information and discussion. I still haven't filled out my evaluation form (sorry Bruce) but it really was one of the best programs we've had. I think since we were only 2 hours from Columbus, OH we could bring more OCLC people in to give presentations, and it made a world of difference.

The MLA meeting was also good. I was busy going to several business meetings, but I actually came away with quite a bit of information this time. I am going to be sharing much of that information with my UK collegaues at a meeting tomorrow morning. I figure it was time to discuss some cataloging things at our CTS meetings since we usually only discuss special projects, acquisitions issues, and anything electronic.

The best time I had was meals out. Wednesday after MOUG I took a walk with three other people through downtown Pittsburgh all the way to an area called the strip. We had lunch there at a place known for their fish sandwiches, which were HUGE!!! We must have walked two miles to get there and two miles back. I was with three other music catalog librarians from Washington Univ. in St. Louis, the University of Maryland, and the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh.

Wednesday night the MOUG Board (on which I am a member) went out to dinner together, as is the tradition. We found a Greek restaurant that was great. The food was spectacular and the atmosphere was very European. I love restaurants like that! They let you sit and talk and they aren't eager for you to leave so they can seat more customers. If you are ever in Pittsburgh I highly recommend it: Christos on 6th Ave. (or 6th Street, maybe?), it's downtown in the Cultural District. The waiter (who I think was also the owner) convinced us to try his Onassis dessert. He said he used to cook on the Onassis yacht and Jackie Onassis didn't care for desserts, so they were always trying to find something she would like, and this was it. It was a cake that was very light, white and had honey in it, and the frosting was also very light with a sprinkling of cinnamon on top. We ordered one and all seven of us tried a little. It was great!

Friday night we went across the river to Station Square and had dinner at an Italian place. It was very cute and everything there is family style, thus big portions. There were 6 of us, five catalogers and one reference/public services librarian. He was a little out of his element being surrounded by catalogers but later I found out that he had a really great time and was even contemplating switching to being a cataloger. He said we have more fun than the public services people. They were all from: Julliard School of Music, NYU, Baylor Univ., and two people from Roosevelt Univ. (Chicago). We were laughing so hard, I'm sure we were the loudest people in the place. And there wasn't that much alcohol at the table. I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard. I had no idea cataloging jokes could be so funny!! 520: that about sums it up!! [Guess you kind of had to be there!] The food was great, we order one salad and one appetizer to share between us and three entrees and three (very large!) desserts. I have never seen achocolate cake that big!!

Saturday night was also great. We always have a small cocktail reception before the banquet. This year's meeting was a joint conference with MLA and SAM (the Society for American Music). SAM has a brass band that plays to help close their conferences. So the brass band played for the first 30 minutes of the cocktail reception. There was also free champagne being passed out, so I had a glass of that. The brass band was okay, not very exciting music, just marches and some band type pieces. But then the MLA Big Band played! We have an awesome group. They played for the last hour of the reception before the banquet started and as soon as they started playing we were all cheering and going wild. They were great!! Definitely better than the brass band. One of my co-workers told me that someone standing next to her asked who these people were and she looked at them and just said, "They are Librarians!" How awesome!!! Check out our Big Band at: www.myspace.com/mlabigband. (I hope I have that correct, that's off the top of my head.)

I got back to town late Sunday night, went to see Chris and then finally made it back to my house in time to go to bed. I took Monday off to run errands and sleep in some. Went back to work today. Back to my mundane life. I love these conferences, I learn so much and I have so many friends there now, it's just fun to go. I can't wait to go to Newport, RI next year for our 2008 meeting. True Newport in February will be cold, but it'll be warm and cozy inside the hotel surrounded by lots of friends and good conversation!!

Traveling to Pittsburgh

First, as the header says, I am traveling this week, this time to Pittsburgh. I've been to the airport there, but never to the city. My hotel is right in downtown, right where the rivers all converge. I leave Monday night and I fly back home next Sunday afternoon/evening. I'm not taking my laptop with me this time, so I will be out of touch the whole week. However, feel free to give me a call if you like, I will have my cell phone. If I don't answer it's just because I'm busy hanging with colleagues/friends that I only see once a year! :)

Second, my weekend was okay. It was busy despite how sick I've been. I finally started feeling better today. But yesterday's dress rehearsal was awful! I felt terrible. I thought today was going to be terrible too, but somehow I remained clear and had energy during the concert. I've been congested since, but it doesn't seem as bad as it was the past few days.

I hope everyone is having a prayerful Lent. Take care and have a good week!

The Pope as Shepherd

Protestants often view the Pope as some kind of all-powerful religious figure over Catholics like some kind of a dictator. Or, at least, that is the impression I get when this subject comes up with non-Catholics. However, today's readings point to something very different.

You'll notice that I now have a link on the side bar of this blog directly to the day's readings. Very convienent! Hope you enjoy that added feature.

All three of the passages from the Bible read at Daily Masses today point to the leader of the One Church as a shepherd. The first reading is from St. Peter himself. Not only that, but today's feast day is the Feast of the Chair of Peter. How appropriate! Peter tells the other church leaders to whom he is speaking to be examples to their flocks. Then we move to the Psalm, one of the best known Psalms: #23: The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.

Finally the Gospel passage from Matthew. This is the passage where first Jesus asks who the people say He is. Then He asks Simon Peter who he thinks He is. Peter proclaims Jesus as the Son of God! Jesus then blesses Simon Peter and calls him the Rock that he will build his Church on. Thus his name is now Peter for petra which means rock. Not only that (it just gets better and better, doesn't it!) but He says he will give Peter "the keys to the keys to the Kingdom of heaven." Peter was the first Pope, and it is at this moment that he has that distinction because Jesus himself gave him that gift. If His church on Earth was to remain One, united church, it needed a leader. You can go back to the first reading to see just how good a leader Peter was, despite his many faults (as is seen later in the Gospels).

The Catholic Church also believes in Apostolic tradition. In the creed that we say at Mass each Sunday we proclaim the church as "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic." Peter was an apostle of Jesus. Jesus gave him the keys to the Kingdom and made him the rock. The Pope (Peter and all his successors) give the leadership of the church to the cardinals, bishops, and priests. Basically it is a direct line (no breaks) from Jesus down to our very own priests today. it's kind of cool to think about!

The Mass readings aren't always so clear, at least not to me. But these are all very clear. For those who question the Pope's position and why we Catholics have a Pope, this is why. It was instituted by Christ himself; hard to argue with that. I heard a wonderful speaker last month sometime give a talk on defending the Pope. She had a lot of great things to say and I could never be as eloquent as she.

However, if you are interested in more information I suggest looking at books on Apologetics. There is a great series called Beginning Apologetics. All of them are fairly thin, but packed with information. They look a little like the workbooks you got in school to accompany a textbook. I looked at Amazon.com and they don't seem to have one devoted to the Holy Father, but I'm guessing that volume 1: How to Explain and Defend the Catholic Faith probably addresses the issue of the Pope. It's worth looking at.

Hope everyone had a good Thursday (I was home sick today). God bless!

******
Update: Was just browsing through Amazon.com and came across the following title: Upon this Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church by Stephen K. Ray (ISBN-13: 978-0898707236). I have not read this book, but it looks very interesting. Written by someone who was an Evangelical Christian who found his way to the Catholic Church through (it seems) trying to prove the Catholic Church wrong on many matters. If anyone has read this book and would recommend it, I've love to hear from you.

Ash Wednesday and Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday -- the beginning of the Lenten Season. Music at church will be solemn from now until Easter when it becomes glorious again. This is always such an amazing time of the year.

At the Cathedral we use the same song at the beginning of Mass every Sunday of Lent. It's slow and solemn and very repetetive. When I played with the music ministry, my parts were either very simple or non-existant. Instruments (except organ & piano) are discouraged. Also, we started using some chant during Mass last year for Lent and we will be continuing that this year as well. I think it really adds to the solemnity of the season. The hardest thing to get used to is the end of Mass. During the Recessional no music is played at all. The priest and the rest of the entourage leave in silence. This makes people feel uncomfortable, so many leave as soon as Mass is over and don't wait for the recessional. They miss the point. Recessional music is supposed to life our spirits as we head out into the world after celebrating the sacrifice of the Mass each week. However, during Lent we're not joyful so it doesn't make sense to send us forth with joyful music. This is a solemn and contemplative time. Thus no music. It feels awkward and unnatural, even pretty uncomfortable, but that's the whole point. It's supposed to feel that way. Think about it when you're at Mass today or this coming Sunday.

Today, Ash Wednesday itself, is actually not a Holy Day of Obligation. Most people don't seem to know that, but why bother correcting them. There are usually more people at Mass today than there are on actual Holy Days of Obligation. So we'll keep it a secret so that they continue showing up each year. Chris and I will be attending the 7:30 Mass tonight and then going to dinner afterwards. I'm sure we'll be pretty hungry by then, we're following the rules of fasting and abstinence today.

Fasting and abstinence is something we do during Lent to remind us of the sufferings Jesus went through for us. Ash Wedensday and Good Friday are days of fast: two small meals that don't equal one normal size meal when combined together and one regular meal. All the Fridays of Lent plus the two previously mentioned are days of abstinence: no meat. In truth every Friday of the year is a day of penance. Before Vatican II meat was not allowed during any Friday. Since then that has been changed, we are still supposed to do a penance on Fridays during the rest of the year, but it doesn't have to be meat. Chris' family always did no meat on Fridays and he still keeps that up, so I have been following suit lately.

Lent is also a time to give something up, to make a sacrifice as (again) another reminder of what Jesus sacrificed for us. So for Lent this year we have decided to give up TV. We can watch a rented movie, but no actual TV. I did this several years ago and it was such a good thing to do. I'm not sure that this is much of a sacrifice, but it will be difficult. We are also going to say a Rosary every day, together whenever possible.

Next week I am going to Pittsburgh for a conference. I don't recall ever going to a conference during Lent. It might be a bit of a challenge, especially in the hotel room with two roommates. I can't really expect them to not watch TV just because I can't.

Anyhow, I wish everyone a good Lenten Season. May this time of year bring you closer to our Lord!

Our busy weekend

Happy Monday to everyone!! I hope everyone had a good weekend. We got snow again on Friday and Saturday. By Sunday the roads all cleared and dried out, the rest of the snow is now starting to melt since it is finally warmer today (finally above freezing).

Chris and I have been very busy lately. We signed a contract with a Cake decorator and we are set with a florist. We also went to Macy's Saturday and started our registry. That took a lot longer than I expected and we still didn't get as much done as I wanted to. We also went to the Mardi Gras Dance Saturday evening at our church. Between us we won 6 of the raffles!! We did so well that Chris is feeling guilty, since the event is supposed to raise money for the Music Ministry. But he shouldn't feel guilty, the prizes are all donated anyway.

Sunday we spent the entire day together. He picked me up for Mass (thank goodness, I didn't want to drive on the still-icy roads) and after Mass we went to his house for breakfast. Our wedding photographer came by at 1:30 and spent an hour and a half with him doing our engagement photo. After that and a little downtime we headed out to dinner around 5:00. Chris had made reservations somewhere for us to celebrate the first anniversary of our first date; I didn't know where we were going. He took me to Giuseppe's down Nicholasville Rd. past Man o'War. It was excellent and neither of us had been there before. After dinner we went to see a movie (Bridge to Terabithia). The movie was really good, I cried a lot at the end.

So, the wedding is coming along well. Plenty of other things are also keeping us busy (young adult activities in the parish and diocese, work, band stuff, etc.) Next week I am going to Pittsbugh for a conference for the whole week. I haven't decided if I am bringing my lap top with me or not; I like the convenience, but hate carrying it around. I'll keep you posted.

Hope everyone has a good week!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!! I hope the day brings lots of love to you all.

Chris and I aren't really celebrating the day ourselves. We've had so much going on that neither of us have had time to even buy a card for the other person. But that's okay, because our one year anniversary is this weekend. So we'll celebrate that together.

Tonight we have our Young Adult meeting at Church followed by dinner at a German restaurant in town. Hope everyone has a wonderful night!!

Wedding, weather, and much more

There is so much going on these days, I can barely keep up myself. The snow finally started going away today, but that's because it rained all day. However, we're expecting a wintery mix and below freezing temps. So lots of icy roads tomorrow, especially black ice! I think Cincinnati had about 6 inches of snow. I'd rather the snow than the ice. Hopefully it'll get warm enough in the morning to become slush. But that may be wishful thinking.

My veil is in!! The bridal shop called me yesterday to let me know. In other news: we have an appointment with a florist on Saturday. She came highly recommended and I expect to really like her. Also, we met with a cake baker/designer today and she raved about this florist too. The cake person was also highly recommended to us. We spoke to her for a while and she gave us three pieces of cake to take home and try. Chris ate all three of his pieces, I could only eat two (I'm saving the third for tomorrow). They were very good and we discussed what cake flavors and fillings we like. Chris is going to sign a contract with her and make the deposit. So we're on our way to getting all the big things taken care of!! Oh, and we're having our engagement pictures taken this coming Sunday!

There is so much more going on right now. We are in the process of making some changes to the Young Adult group at church and we are in the midst of helping to organize a mass at the Cathedral for young adults. We have help from other young adults from three other parishes, but Chris and I are the ones who know the Cathedral best, so we'll be doing most of the on site work and answering questions from everyone else. Plus, there is the NFP class and the homework we have to do for that. This time we have 6 weeks between classes, but we both have to do the reading.

Okay, so I'm watching the news now. Wow, I had no idea there was a blizzard happening just north of me! And we are now below freezing and they are calling for possible snow now, plus snow this weekend.

Time to say goodnight! Hope everyone has been having a good week! God Bless!!

Why Libraries are important

For those of you who wonder what it is librarians do:

Check out this article

Book will not be replaced by the Internet, the Internet is not free, and not everything is available on the Internet are just three of the 33 reasons this article says Libraries are not going away!!

Hooray for Libraries!

More snow and COLD

Sunday morning I got ready to leave for Church and was surprised to see snow everywhere! I hadn't looked outside at all and last I had heard we weren't supposed to get more snow. I was alreayd running a little behind, but quickly shoveled as much of the driveway as was necessary and headed out. Luckily it was early, not too many cars on the road, but I still took it slow. They were doing the processional when i got to Mass.

This morning the same thing, but I checked outside when i got up at 4:30, so I was prepared. I managed to quickly shovel the driveway a bit and got to church right on time: 6am.

Streets and sidewalks have pretty much cleared off, but it is darn cold out there. I checked the weather earlier this afternoon before I walked across campus to the main library and it was 11 degrees, but felt like -1!! I'm getting ready to leave work now, I think it is around 14 or so now. Public schools did cancel classes today, it was too cold. I hear this is happening throughout Ohio, upstate New York and other areas, so we're not alone on that one.

Have a great week!!

Snow, snow, and more snow

It has been snowing all day today. I think it has finally stopped. Yesterday I was praying for snow, I wanted a good reason to not have to go to rehearsal last night. But, it didn't snow yesterday and I went to rehearsal. I think I wouldn't dread rehearsal so much if I could just find the time to get a new reed and get a key fixed that keeps sticking. However, last night's rehearsal was much needed and wasn't so bad.

Then this morning I woke up to snow, lots of it, and it was still coming down. When I went to leave the house, I shoveled the driveway but it was already building up again when I finished. It took me about 30 minutes to drive to work (only 4 miles), but it was slick and everyone was driving slowly. Last I looked out the window the snow appeared to have stopped, finally, and the roads and sidewalks around here actually look passable now. But that's just the University, who knows what the rest of town looks like.

And this morning, Chris called me at work, just to make sure I got here safely! Isn't he sweet!

*****
Update: I was wrong, the snow has not stopped. Still coming down pretty heavily with no indication of stopping. At least it is pretty to look at, just wish I didn't have to drive in it.

Wedding Progress

We have a priest for the wedding ... again. I finally caught up with Father Frank this week and his calendar was open for the day of the wedding. Yeah!! I'm so relieved to know that we have a priest for the wedding and a priest that we know and like. I'm excited to have him perform our wedding. We both are!

My night: Intro to the Sacraments

Tonight we skipped Theology on Tap and instead went to Church to hear a guest speaker. The speaker was Joseph Martos the author of Doors to the Sacred, a book that has been used since the 1980s in college and seminary classes to teach the history of the Sacraments in the Catholic church. Mr. Martos teaches at Spalding College in Louisville.

He was an interesting speaker. Tonight's topic was just an introduction to the Sacraments. He spoke about spiritual experiences in our lives as well as very basic things like celebrations and why we have them. He then went through each of the seven sacraments and touched on each one briefly. Tonight was just the beginning. For the next seven Mondays Mr. Martos will return to talk about each of the Sacraments in turn. Unfortunately we won't be able to attend all of them, but I hope to get to at least three or four more. I am definitely planning on attending the session on the Sacrament of Marriage.

I'm now interested in reading the book. I glanced through the table of contents of a copy tonight and it looks very interesting. I enjoy history and I think it would be nice to read about this topic from a historical view point. Should be good reading ... one day.

My Weekend and Some Sad News

My weekend was fairly uneventful to start. I got some surprising news on Wednesday, but at that time I wasn't sure what the impact would be.

Saturday we had an appointment to look at wedding invitations. We found something we both liked and decided on fonts for the lettering. We also got a price quote for everything, the invitations themselves, all the necessary envelopes, RSVP cards, Thank you cards, table seating cards, and probably a number of other things. The cost wasn't nearly as high as I was expecting. Some of that could still change, we still have a lot of other decisions to make. But it shouldn't change too much.

We also got 50 minutes of exercise in after lunch on Saturday. It was clear and the temp was around 40. Chris knew it was supposed to rain later, so we went off to the Arboretum and walked for almost an hour. It started raining shortly after I got home. Since then the temps have dropped (it's about 19 degrees right now) significantly. I'm trying not to spend too much time outside.

This morning I got to Mass just as it was starting. I grabbed a bulletin and joined Chris in the pew just in time for the processional. Wednesday evening I had a Faith Formation Committee meeting. At the end of that meeting the chair announced that since we are a committee who is supposed to be supporting the educational outlets of the parish as well as looking at future directions for current groups as well as future groups, she wanted to let us all know that an announcement would be made this weekend that the Rector of the Parish would be leaving at the end of June. I was totally floored!!

So at Mass this morning, Father Paul gets up to do his homily and as he starts talking I grabbed the bulletin to look at his weekly letter. I'm thankful I had warning that something was coming. In the bulletin I notice that not only is he leaving but that he'll be in California on a sabbatical at a seminary there from mid-September to early-December. He used his homily to explain why he was leaving and to let us all know what he hopes to accomplish. My first thought however, was my wedding.

Anyway, Father Paul has not only been a great priest for the parish of Christ the King, coming at a time when things were in a bit of an upheaval and working hard for several years to bring trust back into this huge parish, but he has been a great priest for me. He is the first priest in my life that I can honestly say I had some sort of a relationship with. We weren't exactly friends, but he knew who I was, he knew what I was involved in at the Parish, he knew I was someone to count on (he volunteered me for the Faith Formation Committee I mentioned earlier), and he was someone I knew I could go to if I needed to. At one point in my life I was very down and I didn't know how to get out of the slump I was in. I had started attending daily mass before that happened and I kept myself going during that rough time. I felt most at home at those masses when Father Paul was presiding, and when I was very down his homilies were always what I needed to hear.

Chris and I spoke to Father Paul after Mass this morning and we got a chance to speak with him again briefly tonight when we went back to church for the monthly Sunday Supper. We do have to find a new priest for our wedding, but it was comforting to have him tell us that our wedding is one that he will particularly miss being at. I've done a lot of crying today (hey, I'm an emotional person, I'll admit it), but I know that Father Paul will return to our diocese in mid-December and although he will not be at our church, I hope we'll still see him. Maybe he'll be able to baptise our first child.

While he is away from pastoral duties during the last six months of 2007 he hopes to do some thinking and writing, in particular he is interested in exploring the option of doing a book. I pray that he will accomplish all that he is setting out to do and I ask everyone out there to also keep him in your prayers as he explores these options and grows more in his life as a priest.

As for our wedding, I'm sad that Father Paul will not be there. I had imagined him being the priest to marry me even before Chris and I started dating. Although this will now not be possible, we will have still get married and we will find a priest who will do an excellent job. I will most miss just having Father Paul at our church. I'm sad but also happy for him as he starts a new chapter in his life and I wish him the best of luck.

Marriage Prep

Chris and I had our Marriage Preparation class this weekend. It was a little dull and there were a lot of corny worksheets to fill out and discuss together. Although they recognize that the average age of couples is now between 22 and 35 instead of the former 18-24, the class has apparently not been updated to take that into account.

There were about 14 couples in the class, many of whom are getting married in the next several months. I think Chris and I had the furthest out wedding.

It was an interesting class, but mostly just practical stuff and mostly all stuff we've already talked about. The spiritual part of marriage is done in more depth in the next class we have to take, which we're not taking until June 2.

That pretty much took up our whole weekend. This week is starting off on a good foot. I've already gotten a lot of stuff done today, so I am hoping that means it'll be a very productive week.

Tonight we're off to another session of Theology on Tap; the topic is the Papacy.

P.S. How do you like the new look to the blog? How about the cool wedding tracker at the top! Thanks, Shawna!

Update on the week

It's been another busy week here in Kentucky. Monday was a holiday, of course, so I didn't have to work. I went looking at wedding invitations instead and had lunch with a friend.

At work this week I have spent the majority of my time working on a book review for a journal in my field and meeting with my staff members to discuss goals for 2007. The book review was finally finished Thursday. It ended up being kind of fun to do. I reviewed a dictionary of music and had a good time looking up random things, flipping through and seeing what was on the pages I landed on, and following cross-references. I don't know when the review will be published, but probably in an upcoming 2007 issue. The journal is Music Reference Services Quarterly so if you have access to that one (*laugh*) check it out. :) Also, today I finally started writing a job description for a faculty position I want in my unit. It'll probably take a year to get approval for it and then another year to hire someone. So maybe by 2009 I'll have that position filled.

Last Friday Chris and I took our first NFP class. As Catholics we are opposed to using unnatural forms of birth control. So instead we will be tracking my fertility cycles using what we learn through this class. I have charts I fill out each day and as we go along and learn more we'll learn how to interpret the charts so we know when the best time to get pregnant is, or if we want to delay pregnancy, we'll know how to do that as well. It sounds a little complicated, but after one class I can see how easy it'll be to do the charts. Once we get the hang of it, it'll be easy. For now, of course, I'm totally on my own doing this. The other two couples in the class with us are both already married, so the husband can actually fill out the charts based on the information his wife gives him. They also say that the divorce rate for couples who use NFP is around 4%, as opposed to the national trend of 50%. It was definitely an interesting class and we learned a lot. Next class isn't until February.

Tomorrow evening (Friday) we start our two-day, Marriage Preparation class. We've been told that there are about 10-12 couples in the class and it is taught by a married couple. We talked about this with some friends last weekend who confirmed some of my suspicions about the class. We'll probably be the oldest or one of the oldest couples in the class, we'll also probably be bored as it'll be geared toward those younger, just-got-out-of-college couples, and we've already talked about many of the things this class is supposed to get you started talking about.

Okay, one more day of work and then it's the weekend!! Can't wait!

All Systems Down

The upgrade at my office has officially started. I'm going to be leaving here soon as a result. No point in sitting around when I can't do any work. Next week I have a list of things to keep me busy, but I didn't feel like starting any of them now. The only thing I probably should be doing is looking up and copying some book reviews to assist me in writing the one I have to turn in by Tuesday. I'll get to that shortly.

Tonight Chris and I are attending our first NFP class. We have four to go to over the course of the next four months. I already have the book at home, but we'll be getting other supplies tonight. From what I understand we'll actually learn everything we need to know at tonight's class. The other three classes are to assist you in reading your charts and answering questions that come up along the way. There may be more to it than that, we'll find out tonight.

I'm looking forward to taking this class!! I've been reading a book called Life-Giving Love by Kimberly Hahn. It has been a great book to read and she talks quite extensively about NFP. I have become even more excited about having children once we get married as a result of reading this book. (I was already looking forward to having children, just more so now.) I'm definitely looking forward to what tonight's class will be like as well.

Hope everyone has a happy weekend!!

This week

This week has been so amazingly busy!! Here's the run down:

Monday: this is that last week we can do work in our system before we do an upgrade. We hope that we have enough server space to do the upgrade!! Either way, the pressure is on this week to do as much as possible before we go down, plus classes start Wednesday, so plenty of professors are around wanting their stuff NOW!

Monday night: Theology on Tap. A very excited speaker spoke on Saints and Relics. Very cool!

Tuesday: the pressure is still there!! More meetings and more deadlines, all for things that I don't need to use the system for. Wouldn't it be better to do those things next week when I can't use the system, rather than this week when I could be using the system!

Tuesday night: met with the photographers for the wedding, signed the contract, made the deposit, and talked more and more. Again we were there for an hour and a half!

Wednesday: More meetings!! more deadlines. I managed to get some cataloging work done in the system, but it is now obvious that I won't get done everything I had hoped to this week. I turned in something today a day early, will turn in something tomorrow a day late. That evens out, right?

Wedensday night: first YAACK meeting of 2007. We had 2 new people come, which gave us 4 people for the evening. I hope they come back!! Had a nice discussion about the readings for next Sunday: Isaiah, Corinthians, and John.

Thursday: another meeting, finished up the thing that was due yesterday, have many more things to do and I'm currently procrastinating!

Tonight: Band Rehearsal! I desperately need new a new reed, but who has time!?!

Tomorrow: who knows! Just make it through the day.

Friday night: Chris and I take our first NFP class (Natural Family Planning). I'll post more about that later.

Hope everyone is having a good week! Are you all also as busy as me??

Bridal Shows

Chris and I went to a Bridal Show in Lexington on Sunday afternoon. He sampled 3-4 cakes, a pasta dish from a caterer in downtown, and we both tried a few hor d'ouerves items from several caterers, especially the chocolate fountain.

We also picked up a ton of stuff: catalogs, business cards, forms, advertisements, etc. We went through them all last night and eliminated things we weren't interested in, made some decisions, and filed away the things we want to look at again.

We did make an appointment to meet with someone about invitations (and other stationary needs) and we scheduled a free dance lesson!

On Friday we met with a photographer that we really liked. He had a great price, a package that had everything in it we wanted, and we had a good time talking to them. After talking with and reading through the information from the various photographers at the Bridal Show we decided that the person we met on Friday would be our best deal and would be fun to work with. So we are signing a contract with him tomorrow. Another thing off the list!!

The two other big things I want to look at now are cakes and flowers. Those are the things that we need to have vendors lined up for on the actual day, so we need to book them soon. So much to think about!!

Hope everyone had great weekends!!

Happy New Year!

I'm only a few days late in wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. I had fun visiting family in Atlanta. Chris came late in the week and we went downtown to tour the CNN Center, which was actually a lot of fun. Then we had my niece's birthday party on Saturday. I can't believe she is already one year old!!

On New Year's Eve Chris and I drove back to Lexington through terrible rain almost the entire way. New Years Day started with Eucharistic Adoration at 6am (I was all alone in the chapel this time, no surprise there), then home to shower and change, and back to Church for Mass (January 1 is the feast of Mary, Mother of God).

After Mass we went to Chris' house for brunch: meat pie (traditional holiday breakfast in his family), cranberry sauce, scrambled eggs, apple strudel, and half an orange. It was an interesting brunch. And it was a lot of food, we really didn't eat much the rest of the day. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, taking a walk, and watching a movie. Nice way to start the new year.

In wedding news: I bought a dress!!

Merry Christmas!!!

I traveled to Atlanta on Saturday and got to my parent's house in time for dinner. The trip was uneventful and traffic on the highways not nearly as bad as I thought it might be.

Christmas was fun for all, we had a good time together. I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and got to spend time with family and/or friends.

Chris flies down to Atlanta on Thursday evening. I can't wait to see him again.

Hope everyone had a very blessed Christmas!!

Done for the Week!!

I am done with work for this week!! Yay!!

Today was a long day, but it started with a wonderful surprise: an early morning phone call from Chris wanted to meet me for lunch!! That was a fun thing to look forward to!

I spent the majority of today working on my Faculty Performance Review form. This is a new form for us this year and we are required to do a self-evaluation as part of it. It took my all afternoon. It was a lot of work, but luckily I did not experience all the problems everyone else seemed to: the form locking up on them, or being unable to open sections, it not allowing them to type in certain areas, or do cut and paste. I was able to do all this. I could see how some people could have run into this problem, but maybe I have enough experience with Excel spreadsheets that I knew how to fix what I thought were minor problems.

Anyway, it is done!! Thank goodness.

Tonight: finishing wrapping Christmas gifts; buy tissue paper; laundry and pack.

I leave Saturday for Atlanta. Friday will be spent cleaning, taking Jake to the vet for one last shot, and probably running errands (unless I can avoid that). Tomorrow night Chris and I are doing our Christmas!! (Okay, so Advent isn't over yet, but we won't see each other on Christmas day, so we're doing it now.)

Merry Christmas to everyone! May you all be blessed this Christmas season and for all of 2007.

Hectic Day

Wow, Wednesday was a hectic day!

I had to go to two post offices to get the Christmas stamps I wanted, that got me to work late.

Once I got to work I discovered that I had forgotten the gingerbread Chris made last night for the Holiday Party for my department. I had the lemon sauce for it, the knife to cut it with, and the bowl and spoon for the sauce, just didn't have the actual bread itself. So had to go back home for that.

I think I was actually at work for the day by 11am. The party was at noon and I had to be there at 11:30 to help set up. So I finally started doing actual work today around 1:30pm.

I met a goal today though: I finished the 2007 projects list for my unit.

Tomorrow I will try to work on my 2006 evaluation and 2007 goals. This will take a long time and all I have is tomorrow and January 2 to work on it. Procrastination rules! Wish me luck!!

Tonight: clean house and do laundry. Maybe I'll even get a chance to relax, I'm exhausted. Okay ... time to go home, it's 6pm and I think the students have already shut down the library.

Only a few days left

Hi all! Today was our Holiday party at work. Lots and lots of food and a good time had by all. I am completely stuffed!

I also finished my Christmas shopping today!! Finally done and I didn't do any of it online this year which amazes me! Now just have to wrap everything, but at least that can be done at home. I can avoid all the stores now.

I've been enjoying getting Christmas cards from everyone!! I'm starting mine tonight. I'm a little behind, but I haven't forgotten.

Wedding update: a DJ is now booked, I started looking for wedding dresses, and I'm starting to investigate photographers. The church and priest, reception, and the Marriage Prep class are already on the calendar. Oh, and I got the info on the other class we have to take as well: God's Plan for a Joy-filled Marriage. Looking at the schedule is may be June (possibly July) before we can take that. Everything is slowly coming together.

Hope everyone enjoys their last few days of work. If you're already done working for the year ... well, good for you. :) It's back to work for me: 2007 projects list for my unit, my 2006 evaluation and my 2007 goals await. Ugh!

End of the week

Thank goodness it is Friday! This has been a very busy week.

I gave my final exam on Tuesday evening and had everything graded by Wednesday afternoon!! I'm done!!

Wednesday night was the Christmas Party for the Young Adult Group at my church. It was hosted at Chris' house which meant a lot of work for him and some work for me. But now that's over too.

Work the past two days has also been very busy!! But I have to say that I am finally caught up typing minutes from several meetings, calculating statistics from November, and preparing things for future meetings. I even had a meeting with one of my staff today on her yearly evaluation. Two more next week and then those are done! (Then I have to do my self-evaluation ... ugh!)

I love this time of year! It's busy, there is a lot to do, but you see a lot of things wrapping up. Tonight: dinner and bowling with friends. A great way to relax after a long week.

Tomorrow: wedding dress shopping! Please pray for me!

New Computers and all that jazz

Monday at work my library got new computers for all the staff. I now have a 19-inch flat screen and a very tiny computer box. We've also reverted to only having USB ports and a DVD-Rom/CD-RW drive. No floppy of zip drive to speak of!

The computer is very small and takes up much less space on my desk. Unfortunately, that means you can now see all the dust that had accumulated around the old computer. Now I am just trying to get used to the new mouse, which doesn't seem to be shaped well for small hands. I may be having tendenitis issues again if I'm not careful. Thankfully I found out today that they have a bunch of old mouses and i can get one of those if necessary. I want to give it a little time before I do that, but I'm keepign that as an option.

In other news: I almost ended up with a trip to Quebec City in early February this coming year. The organization that I am the Secretary/Newsletter Editor for was considering sending a rep to an international meeting taking place up there and I was the only one on the board with the potential of going. Fortunately we decided that the program wasn't that important and we could wait for the May meeting, in Columbus, OH. At least with Columbus I can drive and it'll be cheaper for the organization. Although Quebec seems like a cool place to visit, I'm not sure that early February would be the best time.

Busy Weekend

Well, it was a very busy weekend.

Friday I went to Georgetown for a day-long meeting and gave my presentation during the afternoon session. There were three afternoon sessions and mine was the one with the largest registered attendance. It was cool to be the presenter in the "Big Room" while the other two sessions went off to smaller rooms after lunch. Also, I was talking to some librarians from other institutions before we started and they were commenting on how they like going to presentations I have done in the past. One remembered a presentation I gave at a national meeting when I was still kind of a newbie librarian and the other said I was great at a pre-conference workshop I ran a few years ago and she recommended me to others as a great presenter. Hearing comments like that certainly made it easy to give my presentation.

The presentation was two hours on the topic of cataloging in a changing environment. Basically I spent an hour discussing where we've been, the impact of our past on us today, and then gave a snapshot of the multitude of things we are seeing today. I even mentioned blogs and was surprised at how few people really used blogs beyond reading a few every now and then.

The rest of Friday we met with the DJ for our wedding and firmed things up with him. Then we went and grabbed a quick dinner before heading to Church for Mass. We were so worried about getting to Church on time that we actually got there 30 minutes early. So we talked with the organist some (discussed a few wedding ceremony pieces) and then headed for the pews. Friday was a Holy Day of Obligation: the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.

Saturday was a dress rehearsal, which was exhausting! Sunday the concert was at 7:30pm. We usually do 3pm performances, but it looks like we are going to try the later start time for our December concert for a while. It was very late getting out of there. Concert program: Festive Overture (Shostakovich), Salvation is Created (Tschechnkov-or something like that), March of the Three Oranges (Prokofiev), Russlan und Ludmilla Overture (Glinka), Dance of the Jesters (Tchaikovsky), Nutcracker Suite, 4 movements (Tchaikovsky), Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas with Sax solo, Pictures at an Exhibition, 2 movements (Mussorsgy, yes, spelling is wrong here too), and the encore (like every December concert) Sleigh Ride. Anyone see a theme? The concert was titled To Russia with Love. It was an exhausting concert, especially for the clarinet section. On top of it, there were some solos that I had to do also.

That was about it for this weekend. I also made an appointment at a bridal shop in Covington, KY and will be taking two friends with me. That'll be next Saturday. So wedding plans are also slowly coming together.

Friday's Presentation

Friday of this week, December 8, I am speaking at a state conference. It's not far away, thank goodness, just about 30 minutes north in Georgetown, KY. I went to this conference once and decided there was no reason for me to ever go back.

However, I was invited to speak and I do need to keep my CV up for that last promotion in about 5 years, so I agreed. It's nice to be invited to speak at a conference. It makes you feel important even if you aren't. I think they just needed to fill out the program and they asked me to do something.

So I have a two-hour time slot in which I am running a session called "Cataloging in a Changing Environment." I am going to speak for an hour about developments in the field and then open the last hour up for general discussion. We'll also take a ten minute (maybe 15 minute) break in between. Anything to eat up those two hours!

Wish me luck!!

Last Teaching Class Done!!

I am back in my office and my students are upstairs in the classroom filling out course evaluation forms. Tonight was our last class meeting before the final exam!!

Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!

The only thing left is to administer the test and then grade it. I am so excited to be done! It has been a long fifteen weeks.

Now I just need to worry about my presentation for Friday. Ugh! I think I'll enjoy tonight and worry about that tomorrow. Good night all!!

Happy New Year

Okay, I'm a day late, but Happy New Year anyway!! Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent and in the Catholic Church that means the start of a new year ... that is, a new liturgical year.

Happy Advent to everyone!! May your preparations for Christmas be fun and joyful!

Windy and cold ... finally!

It's been close to 70 for the past week, since about Thanksgiving. Kind of strange to have it that warm this time of year. But then today the cold hit. It was warmer when i woke up this morning than it was at noon! It's now about 31 degrees and it's only 2:30pm. The wind today is brutal! Welcome to winter!

Hope everyone has a great weekend. I'm going to be spending what ever time I can this weekend grading papers and putting together a presentation I have to do at a local conference next Friday. Nothing like waiting until the last minute.

Prayer to Obtain Favors

The following prayer was given to me by Chris' sister-in-law last Sunday. It is a Prayer to Obtain Favors. According to the prayer card: it is believed that whoever recites the prayer fifteen times a day from the feast of St. Andrew, Nov. 30, until Christmas will obtain what is asked. Nov. 30 is today!! You can say the prayer whenever you like during the day: all at one time, throughout the day, or in groups. Personally, I'm going to try for five recitations at a time three times during the day.

Here's the prayer:

Hail and blessed be the hour and
moment in which the son of God was
born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at
midnight, in Bethlehem,
in piercing cold.
In that hour grant, O my God!
to hear my prayer and grant my desires,
through the merits of Our Savior Jesus
Christ, and of His blessed Mother.
Amen.

I hope everyone has a joyous Advent season!

Healthy News

Last year at my annual doctor's appointment we discovered that my cholesterol was too high. I had a check-up six months later (still too high), and just went yesterday to get results on the latest check. At my age I didn't want to be on cholesterol medication.

Good news!! My cholesterol is now in the healthy range!! At 192 I brought it down 35 points from where is was in May. I had to share the good news!

My doctor wanted to know what I did (she seemed surprised that it came down that much). I did lose 7 pounds, but I'm not sure what else I did to make that significant of a difference.

Oh well, I guess I just need to keep doing things the way I'm doing things.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!!

It's still a couple days early, but I know everyone will be busy with traveling and family and other activities (shopping?). I'll be staying in KY this year and going to Bardstown with Chris on Thursday. Otherwise, I will be catching up on sleep and practicing for my concert in early December.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday and a relaxing and enjoyable weekend!

First snowfall

I woke up this morning and went to let the dog out at 4:30am and the back porch was covered in snow. Nothing too major, but more than a dusting. It was no longer snowing at that point.

I got to church at 6am and when I walked out at 7am it had started coming down again; pretty big flakes and coming down pretty hard. Luckily nothing stuck to the roads. The snow finally stopped around 8am.

All traces of snowfall are now gone. :( But I'm sure it won't be the last of it.

Young Adult Retreat Weekend

This past weekend was the Young Adult Retreat for my church group. We held the retreat at a cabin out in Lebanon, Ky. It is beautiful out there!

We had dinner Friday night, put together our folders for people to leave us notes in, and discussed the significance of the candles we light for each of us and for the group and for the person who owns the cabin. Our theme this year was Mary, the Saints, and Heaven. As a result, I planned that we would say all four sets of mysteries of the Rosary. So we ended Friday evening with the Rosary doing the Joyful mysteries and then all headed for bed.

Saturday was our full day. Rosary in the morning (Luminous Mysteries), breakfast, discussion on Heaven, discussion on Mary (specifically the doctrine of the Assumption), then lunch. After lunch we had a little free time and then Father Frank arrived. He led a discussion of the Saints which of course touched again on Mary and Heaven. We then had about an hour or more for quiet, reflective time, Confessions with Fr. Frank, and setting up for Mass and for dinner after Mass. We were smart, dinner was a pre-cooked lasagna that we could just stick in the oven and it would be ready when Mass was over. Having a small Mass for only 7 people is interesting, but something I always enjoy. Dinner was great and then Fr. Frank had to leave to get back to Lexington. We then started a bonfire out by the lake/pond and made smores. We did the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary before bed and then we all crashed.

Sunday morning was nice: Rosary again (Glorious Mysteries), breakfast, clean the cabin, pack up, everyone leaves. Chris and I actually headed to Bardstwon instead of home and visited with his family that afternoon. We had dinner with them and didn't leave there until 9pm, which put us back in Lexington at 10pm.

It was a great weekend! Lots going on, but truly a fun time. I like these retreats and I hope the Young Adult Ministry at the Church continues and retreats like this will be organized in the future.

I hope everyone else also had great weekends!

Special Prayer Today

Please say a prayer today for the successful surgery this morning for Grayson Albers and for the doctors performing the surgery. Grayson is the son of two very close friends and he's my Godson.

The surgery will be about three hours and is being done at a very good children's hospital in Atlanta (my brother had two surgeries there when he was a baby). I was told that they expect to be able to go back to SC by Friday.

Please pray for Grayson, his parents, and his surgeons. Thanks!

*********************
Update: Last I heard Grayson was doing well. The surgery went well, even better than expected! All looks good. Thanks to everyone for their prayers!

We have a date

Chris and I have a date. We will be married on October 20, 2007 at 2pm. Yeah!!

We are also putting together a webpage for the wedding with info for our guests about hotels, the area, travel to Lexington, etc. We'll let people know once we have something we want to share.

The ceremony will be at our church, the Cathedral of Christ the King. The wedding will be a full Catholic Mass.

The reception will be at the Griffin Gate Marriott in Lexington off of Newtown Pike and very close to I-75. The reception location is beautiful!!

Big news from Lexington

I have some big news to share. But first, I apologize to anyone who did not get a phone call from me first. I never realized how many people I knew until just the last couple of weeks.

Big news: Chris and I are now engaged!! He asked me on October 20 to marry him and I said YES! Of course, I had to get over the initial shock of the question, since he asked it as part of a conversation and it was late and I was starting to think about having to get home and so on and so forth. So the moment certainly surprised me! I like surprises, though, so he did a great job.

We don't have a date set yet, but we are hoping for October 2007. We are meeting with the priest at our church tomorrow (Tuesday) and then with some possible reception places on Thursday. I hope to have a firm date by the end of the week. And yes, we're getting married in Lexington; this is our home and it's where we met, where we go to church, where many of our friends are, and where we'll start our lives together. A lot of people assume we'll get married in Atlanta, but it's been way too long since I lived there for any extended period.

We are both very excited. We are also both a little unsure of how to proceed. I've organized events before, but nothing like this and I feel like I'm just feeling my way through the dark at the moment. But once we really get into it, we'll probably start having fun.

Stay tuned for more details, I'm sure I'll have plenty to share over the next 11 months!

Vending saga continues

Apparently the Neutrogena vending machine outside the UK Book Store is not the only strange vending machine around. Also in the Student Center is an Apple vending machine. From this one you can buy the ear piece headphones for your iPod, other iPod accessories, Playaways (kind of like books on tape, but the player is part of the item and it can only play the book one book), and any number of other Apple products.

I was told that there is a third strange vending machine somewhere on campus, but I haven't seen it yet.

So, will we one day being doing all of our shopping via vending machine?

Strange vending

I walked over to the UK Student Center today and went into the University Bookstore. On my way in I noticed something strange just outside the door. It was a huge vending machine that sold Neutrogena products! It was definitely a vending machine and even had a credit card reader on it. Has anyone else seen anything like this?

Note that this was not a regular vending machine with skin care products in it, this was a vending machine made for selling Neutrogena products.

What's next!

Phone Etiquette

Three times in the past week or so I have been in the bathroom at work with a student who is on the phone. I can't imagine talking to someone on the phone while using the bathroom, or even being on the phone with someone who is in a bathroom. It just seems rude to me. Have our lives become so busy that the only time we have to talk to people is when we're sitting in a bathroom? Or is it just that college students these days seems to have cell phones glued to their ears?

Three times in about 5-7 work days I have observed this. Is this now acceptable behavior?? Has anyone else observed this?

For your information, please don't call me if you are in the bathroom and I promise never to call anyone in the reverse situation.

Presentations and such

I took a class today at school as part of a two-year, leadership program I am doing through the University's Training & Development department. Today's class was called Presenting Effectively; it actually met today from 8:30 to noon and then meets again next Thursday same time. Guess why there is a week between the classes? Yep, we have to do a presentation!

So next Thursday I have to do a 20 minute presentation on the topic of my choice. The teacher is very much against having scripts, notes, or even detailed outlines. So I need a topic that I don't need any kind of notes in front of me for. I'm thinking of doing something on the clarinet. I know that in only 20 minutes I can cover a brief amount of history, a bit about the construction, and then show how it sounds, etc. I want something that is also interesting to the people in the class. I'm also open to suggestions. If you have any, I'm all ears.

Presentations are apparently everywhere this semester. There's my class of course, which is like doing a two and a half hour presentation once a week.

Today I agreed to present and facilitate a two-hour session at a state-wide meeting in December. I'm going to spend a little less than an hour giving an overview of the big cataloging issues and changes in the present US and international environment. Then we'll take a quick break after which we'll open the floor for discussion and questions. I just have to be sure to inform the audience that I am not the expert, but will be guiding the conversation. About 90 people usually attend this meeting and there are three breakout sessions, so probably about 30 people will be at this session. Though the organizer told me today what the other two sessions are which sound very interesting, so maybe my group will be small.

Then there is the young adult retreat in November. I'll be organizing one session during that weekend too. I have chosen Mary as my topic and I think I am going to organize it more as a discussion than a presentation. I think I might focus on the Marian dogmas and read the Biblical passages that support the doctrines and discuss them. That's the current idea, but we'll see. We still need to discuss all the retreat topics and get some kind of common theme between them all.

Any suggestions for presentation topics for next week?

Seven down, Nine to go

The semester is getting close to its midpoint. I've already given one test, graded two papers, and a graded exercise. Only four papers, two graded exercises, and two tests left. Plus, only nine classes left to teach this semester!!

I'm very excited! This is the last semester that I will be teaching this class. Can't wait to go back to having my one full-time job rather than the full-time job plus the adjunct position.

And the countdown continues ...

Home at last

Milwaukee was a great city. I thoroughly enjoyed the city, the meeting I was at (it was a great and diverse program), and the people I was there with. There are a lot of fun people in this group and it's always so much fun to see them all. I definitely want to go back to Milwaukee sometime, probably when the Irish Music Festival is happening.

I left the hotel on Saturday around 11am and got to the airport by 11:15. I was checked in and through security by 11:30 or so. I booked my ticket through Delta, but on the way home Northwest was the carrier and Delta actually sent me to the Northwest counter to get checked-in. I didn't realize that they did things this way now, but I guess I'll know for the next time. I sat in the airport and typed up one of the two reports I was going to need to submit from this meeting, plus I started the second one. So I'm a little ahead of the December 1 deadline on those. Woohoo!

My flight left Milwaukee on time and got into Detroit on time. This was the first time I had been in the Detroit aiport. They have a Tram that runs overhead just from one end of the A Terminal to the other. I had a three hour layover, so I walked the length of the Terminal (78 gates), walked back to the center (very cool water fountain/sculpture there), rode the Tram to the other end (just for fun), had dinner, and then walked back to the opposite end for my flight. We left Detroit almost an hour late, at 7:55, and I got to Louisville around 8:50. I got to Chris' house around 10:30 and visited him for a bit before finally getting home, around midnight. Definitely a long day.

So I'm home, safe and sound. Church this morning was great. Father Frank gave an excellent homily!! Otherwise, I spent most of the day relaxing and playing with Jake. I did finally sit down and grade the tests I gave last Tuesday (everyone made an A!!) and Chris is making dinner. He's cooking while I type; aren't I lucky?! :)

I hope everyone has a great week! --K

Meetings underway!!

Thursday in Milwaukee was primarily a walking day. I found my way through most of the downtown area near the hotel. Walked to the public library, walked along the River Walk, walked through the Cathedral, and more. I met up with some colleagues at the hotel around 11am and we all went to grab lunch before we headed to a tour of the Irish Music Archives.

Getting to the Archives was interesting. A lot of construction near the hotel has caused bus routes to be re-routed. After wandering aimlessly for a while, we finally found the right bus and were on our way. The Archives were very cool. They specialize in Irish-American music, or Irish musicians who have made splashes in the US, like U2, the Corrs, and the Cheiftains, as well as many others. They have a huge Bing Crosby Collection as well. They specialize more in popular music, rather than traditional Irish music. I had a meeting to get to back at the hotel, so one other person on the tour and myself had to leave early, and then had to run to catch the bus! It was probably quite comical to see us.

Last night we had a reception in the hotel and were entertained by the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra. The director also gave a lecture on the History of the Mandolin and Mandolin Orchestra's in the US. The ensemble was very good and has been a part of the Milwaukee music scene since 1900.

Today is the bulk of the meeting. This morning we heard from various people in the business about what the future holds for our profession and how they deal with new things and so forth in their particular jobs. We heard from an Associate Dean of a Library School, an administrator in a Library, a veteren librarian, and a "new" librarian. Following that presentation we then heard about development on libraries, which was also interesting.

The afternoon program begins with a session I put together. We'll be hearing from two people from a company we all have to work with (OCLC) about some of their new programs and products that our library patrons will be using and we'll be using. It'll be interesting to see what they have to say.

Have to run now, lunch is almost over and I have to find my notes to introduce the two speakers. Sorry for any typos, etc., I did this really fast.

Traveling and safely in Milwaukee

Wednesday was a long day of travel. It started with my drive to Louisville which took a little over an hour. I was in the terminal (check-in and security was short) by 9:30 or 9:45. My flight didn't leave until 12. So I had a muffin at Starbucks and then walked the airport. I got an hour or more of exercise in before I sat down to wait for my flight to board. The flight to Cincinnati was 20 minutes.

In Cincinnati I had to take the bus from Terminal C (where Comair flies out of) to Terminal A (all other Delta flights and Delta carriers). Terminal A is pretty big so I started walking it as well. My flight didn't leave until 3:20pm, so I had quite a wait. I finally decided to walk to Terminal B (more Delta and International flights). I had a two hour layover, so I got a lot of walking in and had lunch. By the way, if you're ever in the Cincinnati airport for a long layover, there are more food choises in Terminal B than Terminal A. Terminal B even has a Max & Erma's and a Wolfgang Puck Restaurant. I just had Chick-fil-A.

I left Cincinnati at roughly 3:20 and 50 minutes later I landed in Milwaukee around 3:30pm. It was a 15 minute ride from the airport to the hotel. Appparently the Pfister Hotel is the oldest hotel in Milwaukee. If I lean close to my window and look to the right and through a bunch of buildings, I can just see part of Lake Michigan. I'm on the 21st floor.

Overall, Milwaukee is a nice town. It's easy to walk in and not hard to find things. I left the hotel last night and walked down Wisconsin toward a Borders. I figured if there was a Borders, there had to be other things around it. So I wondered through Borders a bit and then found my way to an Irish Pub where I had dinner. I order a Shepherds Pie, which came in this tiny little black cauldren. It was very good and then I finished it off with a Black and Tan Brownie. Couldn't taste the Guinness much in it, but it was good all the same.

The Hotel has wireless, but for a fee. Ever hotel I've stayed at the last few years has had wireless for free. Oh well. I found a cafe where I can get on the wireless and that's where I am now. Having breakfast and playing on my computer.

The hotel is also near the Milwaukee Cathedral, Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. I called last night and got Mass times and considered going to Daily Mass this morning, but I overslept a little and couldn't make it. I might go over there later just to see it, maybe I can make Daily Mass on Saturday morning.

Today the plan is to take it easy in the morning and then I take a tour of the Irish Music Archives (largest in the world) and then committee meetings, dinner, and an opening reception.

I think I'll go find the Public Library now so I know where it is for my meetings tomorrow. Hope everyone has a good day!

Milwaukee here I come!!

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Milwaukee for a conference. I'll be attending the Midwest Chapter Music Library Association meeting.

Tomorrow I have to drive from Lexington to Louisville and take a flight to Cincinnati. For those who don't know, the Cincinnati airport is actually in northern KY; not to mention that I can drive to either Louisville or Cincinnati from Lexington in just over an hour. I'm going to be doing an awful lot of traveling before I even get out of KY. But the ticket was cheaper this way.

I'm bringing my laptop with me, so I should be able to keep in touch while I'm there. I'll keep you posted on my comings and goings!!

Hope everyone has great weekends! Blessings to you all! K

The Real Presence

I had an interesting thought this morning while I was at Eucharistic Adoration. First I was praying for greater faith in the mystery of the Real Presence (as well as all the mysteries of our Catholic faith) and I was struck by how much we take this gift for granted. My next thought was that being here in front of the Blessed Eucharist is as real as if Jesus walked into the room.

Then I started thinking about the throngs of people that gather anytime the Pope makes a public appearance. How people try to get real close, possibly be able to touch him, and the awe that this figure holds. My mind then wondered to a very different thought: celebrities and other prominent figures that draw a mesmerized and adoring crowd.

All that led my mind to question: Shouldn't even larger crowds than those the Pope attracts (and certainly those that are drawn to celebrities) be attracted to the Real Presence? Not only that, but crowds should be coming to Mass every Sunday to actually receive the Real Presence. The church should be full!

In the Eucharistic Chapel, Jesus is truly there. People should be lining up to get into the chapel even if just for a few minutes. It took me a year and a half to make the committment to spend one hour a week there and now I feel like that isn't enough. I don't think I could get more time in necessarily, but I know that when I feel drawn to visit the chapel, I will make every effort to do so, rather than putting the thought aside because it isn't Monday morning yet.

Librarians vs. Search Engines

A colleague sent this article out today about search engines and the unreliable information they often return. Librarians and libraries, the article states, are still very much needed and the profession is having to change rapidly in ths new environment.

I have to say that I have been seeing this happen around me and things are changing so fast that it is hard to keep up. The article is very interesting and I encourage everyone to read it. Especially if you think librarians are just checking out and stamping books!

Special Mass for my grandparents

Today in Boston several members of my family are gathering to attend a Mass being said in honor of my grandparents. My parents and my sister and her husband and daughter flew up to Boston from Atlanta on Wednesday to be there with the rest of my mother's family. My grandfather passed away 32 years ago this past Thursday. My grandmother passed away in February of 2005.

Before I moved to Kentucky in 2000, I spent two years in western Massachusetts and I often drove into Boston on weekends to spend time with my grandmother. I'm glad I got to spend that time with her. I know she liked having me there as well. She also loved it when my aunt and uncle took her out to see me once and she got to attend an orchestra concert I was performing in.

Please remember my grandparents today and say a pray for their souls in heaven.

Movin' on up

Last night was rehearsal and audition results were put out over email about a day or two before hand. I was moved up to the Solo Clarinet spot in the section. I was very surprised but many people around me were very encouraging and said I deserved the position, including the person who has been in that position for several years.

I'm happy about the move but a little nervous too. The pressure is on now and it makes me a little nervous. But it will be fun to do our first concert this season at the Cathedral that I attend as a parishoner and be sitting in that first row, first seat spot!

Your Life in Numbers

Do you ever see your life as a series of numbers? I was just thinking last night that I have 11 classes left to teach this semester, which also means that there are 11 weeks left in the semester. Then I was thinking about how many days before I travel to Milwaukee (7) and how many Midwest Music Library Association Meetings this trip will make (6).

All that got me thinking about all the numbers in my life. There are phone numbers, numbers of hours spent at work, birthdays, anniversaries, and all sorts of other things. I find myself constantly counting down for things, particularly how many classes I have left to teach or how many days before a trip or some other event.

Have you ever thought about the multitudes of numbers in your life? Or is it just me?

Fall has begun!

My favorite time of year is Fall! I love the cooler temps, the fall colors we'll be seeing in a few weeks, and the freshness in the air. Most people get excited about the coming of Spring the way I get excited about Fall. With the small class I have this semester, I'm hoping to get out a little bit more this Fall than I've been able to the last few years.

Speaking of class: have I mentioned that I only have 7 students!! I graded their first major assignment on Sunday. What took me several hours over two days last year, only took me an hour and a half this time! It has been great.

The weather did clear up on Sunday. It's still cool, but that's fine with me. It was very cloudy Sunday night, but Chris and I went ahead and took a four mile walk out at the UK Arboretum. It was nice to go for a walk again; it's been a while.

Hope everyone has a great week. Mine has started off on a good foot and I hope that continues.

Flooding in Lexington

It rained almost all day yesterday and didn't stop all night. Since yesterday we've gotten about 6 inches of rain here. Currently it's not raining, but it's supposed to again. We're expecting another inch today, probably two overnight, and an inch tomorrow. My plan today was to go to work to grade papers and get things ready for class for this week and next. Then later today I was going to be working at my church's biggest fundraiser, Oktoberfest. However, there are several road closures, many events around town today have been cancelled, and the part of Oktoberfest I was going to volunteer at has been cancelled and the rest of the event moved inside. Many of the road closures are near my house so I've decided that it is best to stay home. Even my usual alternate routes are iffy. Plenty to do at home though: lots of cleaning, practicing, and who knows what else.

Auditions

I used to hate auditions!! No matter how well I played, I always did terrible in auditions. That's not to say that I like auditions now, but I'm a bit calmer about them. I had a voluntary audition last night and I wasn't worried about it at all, but I still didn't play to the best of my ability. However, I knew that with this audition I wasn't risking losing my current spot in the group I play with.

He had me play my chromatic scale, which I messed up the rhythm on and as a result missed a note or two. I also had to play the clarinet solo at the beginning of Festive Overture by Shostakovich and into the Tutti section. That went ok, just a little problem with rhythm again. That was a result of nerves, not so much that I didn't practice with a metronome, because I did!

Based on the conductor's remarks after I finished playing, he's very pleased with my playing despite my small mishaps. The new seating chart will probably be out sometime this weekend, or at least by Monday. So we'll see then what he decided.

More Workshops, Classes,

Tuesday was Day two of the Workshop I was in on Monday; Wednesday I spent two hours meeting with department heads in my division and another hour after that meeting one-on-one with my associate dean; today I'll be in a class all day. Maybe I'll get some work done tomorrow?

Workshop Day 2 was for supervisors. We talked about goals again, but from the stand point of guiding your employees in making good goals and supporting them in future-forward thinking. I think I got more out of day 2 than day 1.

Today I am going to an all day class called "Leading Effective Teams." I have no idea how this class will be: could be good, could be a total waste of my time. Only time will tell.

Last night I led Bible Study at Church. We read the readings for this coming Sunday. The First reading and the Psalm are a nice pair I think. In the first reading, from Wisdom, we hear the wicked people talking about the downfall of the "just one," who is supposed to be Israel. Then in the Psalm we hear the prayer of the just one. I like the way the two go together. I also think I'm liking the book of James more and more. The last several weeks at Mass the second reading has been from James and I like what he has to say. This may also be because social justice issues have been slightly more on my mind lately. The Gospel, from Mark is the second time Jesus tells his disciples about the death he must suffer and the resurrection later. Mark has three instances of this in his Gospel, the first was last week, this week is the second. The third time isn't in the readings for this cycle. I like studying the upcoming readings each week because it makes the Mass more meaningful for me on Sunday. And I like then hearing the preist's homily after I have already studied it all myself. So I look forward to the homily this Sunday.

Have to run off to class now. Blessings to everyone!! -K

Workshop Yesterday

Yesterdays workshop wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It was primarily on goal setting with a focus on our customers and our stakeholders. Interesting concept to think of your own goals in your every day work as relating to the Presiden't Top 20 Business Plan, the goals of the Board of Trustees, or even those of the state government (they do afterall give us money to operate). We're used to thinking of our customers, but even then, they don't usually enter my mind when I'm thinking about my own goals. That seems silly now, why wouldn't they? But I guess we're used to focusing on ourselves.

The way we did goals was interesting. Not entirely a foreign concept, but some parts were new. I do feel like I learned something and will probably be thinking more along these lines when I set my goals for 2007. At the moment I guess I am stuck with my poorly constructed goals for 2006. We also talked about the evaluation interview between the employee and supervisor. I liked this discussion as well and it gave me some things to shoot for in my own evaluation discussion as well as those with the people who report to me.

One more workshop, dinner, and a class tonight and then I can go home. Thank goodness for the dog sitter! Blessing to everyone! -K

Early Mornings

Good morning!! It's been a busy morning already. I went to Eucharistic Adoration early this morning and, as I always do, I felt priviledged to be there. It really is a great way to not only start your day, but to start the week.

Got to work just after 7am and went to the Main Library on campus rather than my office. I am participating in an all day workshop today on Performance Evaluations (sound exciting?) so I brought my lap top with me to help kill time before the workshop starts.

This weekend was busy: preparing for Tuesday's class, grading papers, cleaning house (a little), meeting with a new dog sitter (to help me on Tuesdays when I teach), and having dinner with two of Chris' sublings and their spouses and children. I also managed to find some practice time, which was definitely needed. I'm doing an audition on Thursday evening, plus I have some challenging music to get under my fingers before October and my reeds are being a problem.

This week will be unproductive work-wise. I will be spending all day today in this workshop which is for all Library Faculty. Tomorrow I will also spend the day in a similar workshop but this one just for those faculty who supervise other faculty, which I do. Thursday I have a class to take in our Human Resources department, and Wednesday there are several meetings. Sometime on Wednesday and Friday I might find the time to actually get some work done. Maybe.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week. Blessings to all!! K

The Pope's comments

I haven't yet read through the speech the Pope gave one day this past week that has caused so much press the last few days. I am planning on reading through it this weekend. (In all that free time I have, right?!) Here is a link to the full text of his speech .

However, I did find this nice commentary on the speech and I thought it was worth sharing.

If I have any insights (don't expect anything too deep) after I read it, I'll share those later.

Celebrating Tenure with "Stack Wars"

Last Friday (September 8) I attended the showing of my first animated short. Three other librarians and myself were the "stars" of this animated short. Coincidently we all just received tenure at UK starting this year. In honor of that accomplishment the Libraries hosted the first Annual Maggie Awards. The Awards were named after Margaret I. King, first librarian at the University of Kentucky. Amazingly, all four award categories went to members of the cast of "Stack Wars." I won for best musical score. Since all the awards went to the same animated short, there was then a showing of "Stack Wars."

Does this all sound a bit concocted?? Well, yes it it. But the film they created was very cute. They transposed all of our heads onto animated bodies and the backdrops were all pictures of areas in the Library system (the auditorium, some office spaces, meeting rooms, etc.). Other characters were pictures of characters from books that had all escaped from their books and were kidnapping the Dean and Associate Deans. They were all saved by me and my three colleagues. Is this why we got tenure? The end of the film included a song with lyrics scrolling up the screen and my face and fake body dancing to the music. The song was "WTYL" (for William T Young Library) set to the music for YMCA. At the end of the song, my head falls off and rolls away!!

The showing was very cute and the whole "awards" show they created was fun, if a little embarrassing. But it came with a gold "Maggie." It was a Librarian Action figure that they must of spray painted gold. Very creative.

At the very end they also presented us with little books that were made in our honor. Mine is very nice and definitely a keepsake. My picture is on the front, it has a short version of my CV (just education and job titles), pictures of music groups I like, a page from the Mozart clarinet concerto, a picture of an authority record with a little detective next it wearing something that is supposed to represent the scarf I keep at my desk and wear around the library when it is cold. It also has pages of pictures to represent places I've visited or want to visit (Italy, Ireland), and a music page with clarinet stuff on it. At the very back of the book is a pocket with a date due slip in it (we are all librarians, afterall). It lists my degrees and years I got them as well as the year I received tenure at UK.

It was a nice way to celebrate tenure and the program was followed by a very nice reception.

Help!! Retreat Ideas Needed

I am planning a retreat for a young adult group at my church. Attendees will be in their 20s and 30s, approximately; attendees are mostly single, but we do have some married folks that join us for parts of the retreat; and this is a Catholic group. I am still holding out hope that we can get a priest to join us for part of the retreat, so some of it will be directed by that person. So far that is not looking promising.

I am interested in hearing ideas from anyone that has been on retreats before and remembers something that they particularly enjoyed. We usually have a combination of discussions and talks along with activities and some meditative, quiet, alone time. Feedback from last year was that we might have had too many crafty activities, so I'm trying to find something different this time around.

I'm expecting attendance to be about 3-4 on the low end and up to 6-8 on the high end. A small group either way.

At the moment I'm leaning toward a theme on Mary, the Saints, and Heaven. But I'm open to any and all suggestions, Catholic themes and topics are preferred. Just leave suggestions in the comment box below. I look forward to seeing some.

States I have visited

Found this cool map where you can mark the states you've been to. Didn't realize that I've been to 26 of the 50 states! I didn't count states I've only drive through, but all those marke are ones that I have at least spent one night in. Try this yourself!!





create your own visited states map

Nothing like a Hike

Okay, so the Gamecocks lost on Saturday night. They not only lost, they were shut out. It was like being in college again.

But there is nothing like a 4 mile hike out in the country to help you get over such an embarrassing game. If you live in Lexington and like to hike, Raven Run is a nice place to go. The walk we took on Sunday afternoon was very pleasant. We saw a deer close up when it came up over a hill suddenly and ran across the path in front of us. The Overlook on the cliffs over the Kentucky River was great and would probably be incredible in the fall with the leaves changing colors.

Overall it was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. 4 miles hiking is nothing like 4 miles walking through the UK Arboretum, definitely good exercise.

Gamecocks on ESPN tonight

The South Carolina Gamecocks are going to be on ESPN tonight. They have home field advantage over the Georgia Bulldogs in their second SEC game of the season. Last year USC lost by only two points. This year we may pull it off! Be sure to watch the game tonight.

I saw a bit of College Game Day on ESPN this morning and Kirk Herbstreet thinks USC will win this game. I knew I liked him for a reason!

Go Cocks!! Beat those dawgs!!

Update on the new semester

School has officially started at the University of Kentucky. The very first day of classes I started feeling a bit weak and not very well overall. By the time I got home I had a 100 degree temp and was not well at all. I was sick for almost two weeks, though the last few days weren't too bad; thank goodness since that was when Chris and I went to Atlanta.

I went to the doctor twice and I had a combination of Tonsilitis, laryngitis, a sinus infection, and pink eye. I'm better now with just a lingering cough every so often.

As a result of my sickness I cancelled my first class meeting of the semester. Luckily, UK uses an online software package where I can record grades, put up documents and lectures for class, the syllabus, assignments, and so forth. So I put everything up they needed and told them they were responsible for the information. So by the next Tuesday night we were able to jump right into the material without missing a beat. My class only meets once a week, so missing one class is never a good idea.

This will be the last semester that I teach for the School of Library and Information Science. This is a decision I made. They would like to keep me but I don't like the lack of free time during the semesters that I teach. Lucky for me I lucked out with a small class of only 7 students this time. Last fall I had 22 students. So this is like a dream!! It only took me about 30 minutes to grade papers today, unlike the hours I spent last year.

I had cleaned my desk this summer, but after getting back to work this month, once I was basically recovered, I had to dig to find my desk. It is starting to look a bit better, but it's so cluttered right now because of all the things I need to do. I don't know that it'll all get done.

The trip to Atlanta was good. Chris and I enjoyed our relaxing weekend and he got to meet the whole family. It was fun.

Along with the start of the new semester is the start of many other things. The concert band I play with has started rehearsals again. The first concert this year is in late October at the Cathedral of Christ the King. Also, committees I am a part of who took the summer off will be starting to meet again. This includes the Faith Formation committee and the Parish Life Committee at my church. Traffic in Lexington is now exponentially worse than it was during the summer. Apparently we had an increase in the freshman class from 2004 to 2005 of 11%; this year they are projecting that it is an additional 3%. You can tell too: in the traffic, in the pedestrian traffic around campus, and the amount of people in the library.

Welcome to September and welcome to the start of so many things. I love fall, it's my favorite season, and the challenges of starting so many new things are everywhere.