CARMELITE MEETING

I was more than a little afraid yesterday that this morning's meeting may have been cancelled but it never happened. As usual around half of us showed up. Sister Catherine was there. I got a pastry & cup of tea while I was there. As frequently happens the meeting involved more current events, small talk & other irrelevant things than things that were relevant to our being there. After Mass, right before I left, I made sure I got a ticket for their St. Patrick's Day contest. The temperature this morning was zero. The cold water in the kitchen still wasn't working as of the time I left. I just got yet another notice yesterday in the mail about a blood drive. This one's on Jan. 26 over in Wilkes_Barre. Knowing me I shall most probably be there.

FROZEN

Happy fiftieth birthday to Tim, an old St. Gabe's classmate of mine. He's the first of my classmates, of the ones I know of, to hit the big one. Nunziata's birthday was this month to. She's married to cousin Java. Today's temperature was absolutely bitter at about two degrees. Schools are closed & everything's slowed down. Upon first getting up to get dressed today I couldn't put the cold water on in the kitchen sink, although the hot worked quite well. I should most certainly hope tomorrow's Carmelite meeting won't have to be cancelled because of the weather. Last month it was cancelled because of a big blizzard. I now have fewer than a hundred pages left in "Sense & Sensibility". Of course now that Uncle Frankie's back in circulation he's regularly showing up with his candy, cookies & pasta fagioli.

INSPECTION

To my undying chagrin, my inspection took all day yesterday but at least it is now over with. I got there at 7:00 a.m. They got started on my car at around 11:00. My father, having been a little ill, wasn't available to drive me home. Somehow I ended up getting stranded there until after noon before I ended up getting a ride home from an employee who's in charge of that. There was less trouble with the car than I'd expected so I was quite happy. I spent my time there reading "Sense & Sensibility" & watching Ellen De Generes, whom I don't like, Regis Philbin, & "The View". At least Beatle Paul was on "The View". Although I've never been even the least bit impressed with most of the hostesses of "The View", Elisabeth Hasselbeck has always struck me as quite an interesting character because she shares my obsession with torturing the liberals quite mercilessly. Beatle Sir Paul was on yesterday's show. Does Regis Philbin really say "incidentally" entirely too frequently? I have no idea because I normally only see him on reruns of my favorite game show. A woman from Copiague, N.Y. even sent him a comment about it. Last night I watched Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto" in which he uses the sixteenth century Mayan Indian culture for a metaphor for today's world. He's always been quite a favorite of mine too. There was even more snow last night & this morning. This morning, after Mass at St. Joseph's, a guy I know from the Holy Name Society reminded me of the bus ride to the March For Life over in Washington, D.C. next Thursday. Tomorrow is Tim's fiftieth birthday. He & I were in the same class at St. Gabriel's.

QUIET DAY SO FAR

Nothing much is going on these days. Happy birthday to Vic over in Lindenhurst. I never get to see any of that crowd in person anymore but the internet lets me keep in touch. Tomorrow is my big day. My inspection at Jack Williams is very early in the morning & will most probably take pert near all day to get over with. I have to get up insanely early for it but I haven't slept for a significant length of time since the JFK/Nixon debates anyway. Unfortunately Mistletoe, over in Finland, has a headache right now. She's one of my Facebook connections. I can't stand headaches. So far this year, I haven't gotten one. Uncle Frankie is still out of commission. He must be really run down these days. Yesterday I read a lot more of "Sense & Sensibility". I just found out on the site, 4marks, that there's a new board game out, Vatican the Board Game, that is all based upon how men become Pope.

SNOWY WEEKEND

The blizzard lasted all day & all night Saturday. Sunday turned out not to be so bad. I got through the local roads quite well. Shoveling & scraping the snow off the cars wasn't as hard as I'd expected because it didn't end up amounting to as much as we were threatened with. There was a major accident on the Cross Valley Expressway recently though so not everybody got a break. Unfortunately Fr. Richard John Neuhaus died recently. He was a very big name in Catholic intellectual circles. Among other things, he founded "First Things", a favorite magazine of mine. Yesterday I finished reading "Cymbeline" & started re_reading Jane Austen's "Sense & Sensibility". I saw the movie a while ago too. Unfortunately I have to make sure I'm up & out insanely early on Wednesday for my much dreaded car inspection. At least those things are only once a year. Happy birthday to Vic from Lindenhurst. His birthday is tomorrow.