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To all the guys at Brute - Thank You!

During finals week - wow, that was only like 2 weeks ago (it feels like so much longer) - owe had the annual baccalaureate Mass on campus at Marian.  This Mass, though open to anybody, was meant as a final ceremony honoring and celebrating the soon-to-graduate class of 2014.  The chapel was packed with seniors and their families and for the first time that I've seen, I struggled to find a seat at a Mass at Marian (which is really cool).  Mass was pretty typical for Marian - with the music that we all like to complain about, but wasn't actually all that bad - and it included a procession of graduates in at the beginning and (for lack of better words) a flower giving ceremony at the end.  Basically, before the priests and servers processed out they asked all the seniors to come up and receive 3 carnations, which they would then give to 3 people who had had a big impact on their college career, a good friend, or a positive influence - you know, somebody who was important in some way to their lives.  

The first one I gave to Fr. Bob immediately following Mass and the second one I gave to my parents when they arrived the next day.  Both were obvious recipients for my flowers - my parents brought me up in the faith, supported my vocation all along, loved me beyond belief, and in every way are the best of parents (THANKS MOM & DAD), and Fr. Bob has had a tremendous impact on my life these past 2 years, not only as a formator but also as an example of a loving, humble priest and a man who has dedicated his life to serving Christ (THANKS FATHER).  Now, of course, I had one flower left, and it took me a while to decide what to do with it.  There were certainly plenty of candidates - teachers who managed to get all that philosophy into my head, another one of the priests at Brute, my academic adviser, another one of the guys... - in the end though I didn't give it to any of those people (worthy though they were).  Instead, I gave it to all the guys at Brute.


Of course, most of them were gone by the end of finals week (when I got the flower), so I left it on the mantle place and took a picture of it.  And then, predictably, I forgot to write this post until now (leaving anybody who saw the pink carnation at Brute still bewildered and everybody who didn't see it oblivious).  Well, here's the post to rectify that situation!  I want to send a big THANK YOU to all the seminarians at Brute during my time there.  You guys were (and are) fantastic!  I enjoyed every minute of my time with you - from your enthusiastic welcomes as I first wheeled my stuff into the "castle", to the many dinners out at different restaurants (American, Chinese, Italian, Mexican, Indian, Greek - you name it, we tried it), to the fun lake-side parties, campfires, bbq's, and community dinners, to the movies we watched together (and which you opened my eyes to - for better or worse), to the ice-skating, football, basketball, soccer, racquetball, dodgeball, and frisbee, schola practice, limbo in the hallway, all the times that I was sore from laughing so hard - I have never had quite as much fun as I did with you guys!  I also learnt a ton from you - you taught me how to come out of my shell, but not be immature, how to joke around, but when to be serious, how to attend Mass reverently, but not stoically, how to do philosophy, without being too weird, how to live the faith and spread the gospel, all in love, how to discern God's will, and to not give up in the hard times.  Literally, in countless ways, you guys were huge parts of my growth so far in seminary.  You made me a better man in every way: academically (all those times studying for Plato/Aristotle, psychology, ethics, calculus, metaphysics, logic, and everything else), spiritually (praying the divine office in common, all those conversations about meditation, liturgy, prayer, all those times when we ended the day together in a Holy Hour, those times when we would get together in the middle of the day to pray a rosary, or mid-day prayer), and in so many other ways...


I could go on and on, but basically, you guys were fantastic teachers - in pretty much every area that seminary necessitates growth in, the best of examples to me in how to go about discernment, prayer, and advancement in the spiritual life, and really, truly, were incredibly important in my learning about (and hopefully advancing in) every kind of virtue - humility, charity, perseverance, joy, courage, chastity, etc.  And all of those things I leaned while having an absolute blast!  I know a flower is a bit cheesy, but please know it is so much more than a flower.  You guys made seminary not only fun, you made it an incredible learning experience.  God willing, in a few years (wow, that's scary) when I'm ordained, I will have been significantly shaped by my time spent with all of you.  Thanks for everything guys (and everything that I forgot), keep in touch!
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The Race for Vocations - Training, Praying, Running, Finishing (and everything in between)

Chris, Willie, Fr. Joe, Eamon, Myself, Aaron, and Dominic - what a great group of guys!
(yes, I am standing on my tip-toes - I thought the camera wouldn't catch that...)

While I haven't posted on it too much, myself and a few other Brute guys ran in the same mini-marathon as we did last year.  The half-marathon itself was last Saturday (May 3rd), but this post will try to encompass all the training and whatnot we did during the semester.


Training began about 8 weeks before the run (so back right after the end of spring break).  The plan we found online had us doing four runs each week and started out with runs of 3 or 4 miles long.  I had been doing a bit of running (on treadmills) on the weeks leading up to that, so I felt great for the first few weeks.  Then, to my great surprise, I found that even as the runs got longer (after a few weeks), I still wasn't struggling too much.  Actually, I was running faster, further, and more easily than ever before.  Last year, at the end of our training (when we were at our fastest), I ran a 4 mile route in 26:50, which is a bit faster than a 7 minute mile.  This year, at the beginning of our training, I ran it in 28 minutes, but within a few weeks I was running it faster than I did last year and by the second week of April I ran the same route in 25:46 (6:35 minutes per mile).  Another example: last year I ran the eight mile training route in barely under an hour (7:38 pace), but this year, again near the end of our eight weeks, I ran I slightly longer route in 56:44 (7:04 pace).  Now, to say that I was running faster than before isn't to say that I was putting in less effort.  There were certainly times when I felt terrible (like when I ran 6 miles on the treadmill - yeah, not much fun), or my legs were absolutely dead (like after our 12 mile run when we struggled along slowly the entire time), or when I attempted to play ultimate Frisbee after running those 12 miles (and my legs started seizing up and spasm-ing)...  Overall I was certainly in better condition than last year (often running faster than Willie and Dominic, who usually set a brutal pace last year).  

During all those runs - whether hard, or really hard - I found that the absolutely best way to pass the time and the long, leg-pounding miles.  If I was cruising along without too much difficulty, I found that myself meditating really well on the mysteries (it was easy to get the idea/picture of each mystery in my head), and when I was struggling to keep my legs moving, or completely out of energy at the end of a long run, I found that meditating on the mysteries kept me going.  Even if my legs were completely dying, there was no way I was going to stop and walk while in the middle of contemplating Our Lord carrying His cross (or another mystery).  Most of the other guys listened to music, but breaking my iPod turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it made me realize just how good of an opportunity running offers for prayer.  

Another benefit of all that running (25 or so miles a week during our longest weeks) was that it forced me to keep exercising.  If I hadn't been forced to keep training, I certainly wouldn't have exercised anywhere near that often (or that hard), and I probably would have neglected to do much exercise at all, especially during those last few, tough and busy weeks.  Exercise, as I learned in psychology class, is the best "antidote" to stress and I can vouch from experience that I feel much better after exercising (and don't feel as bad about eating a good meal during community dinners and the like).  The negative of that constant training though was that my legs were often tired and sore when I wanted to play a game of Frisbee or football (and so I couldn't play as hard as I would have liked).  

Mass for Vocations
(I got to hold the missal for Bp. Doherty)
Anyway, after all that training, eventually the big day came of the actual mini-marathon.  The night before we had attended (and I got to serve at) the Mass for vocations, which was a great reminder of what (and Who) we were running for, and we also enjoyed a large pasta dinner afterwards to charge up our muscles for the next day.  On the morning of the race, Luke generously drove us downtown and dropped us off a few blocks from the starting zone.  We worked our way down to Washington street (where the race starts) and joined the crowd that was filling the different corrals.  A few minutes later the first wave was started and the second wave (the one Dominic, Willie, Chris, and myself were in) moved up to the start line.  I was surprised to find that we were pretty close to the front of the crowd with only 10 or so rows of people in front of me (last year we were buried back in the middle of the crowd).  After a few minutes the countdown started and then, with the music absolutely pounding (which was great!), we took off.  I didn't know if we were going to stick together or not - we had been more spread out in training than last year - and I ended up starting at a really fast pace, whereas they weren't as crazy and stuck with a pace they knew they could keep up...  So, I was on my own when the crowd surged past the first mile (and I found that I had just ran it in 7:00 - way fast!).  I knew that I was going fast, but my legs - while a little bit sore - weren't protesting too much and I was breathing easily, so I just kept going.  Mile 2: 14 minutes - uh oh, this is pretty fast.  Mile 3.1 (the 5k mark): 21:49 - you have got to be kidding, I just tied for my fastest (timed) 5k!...  

Still, I was feeling pretty good, so I just kept going at a pace that was comfortable and gradually it started to slow down.  My legs were starting to feel legitimately tired by the time I hit the 5 mile mark, but I was nearing the Indianapolis 500 track, so I kept my mind off the pain by looking for the group of guys that were coming to cheer us on from Brute.  I didn't see them on my way into the track so I figured that they had scoped out a spot near the exit and so, in I went.  There was a pretty good sized ramp up into the track, but my legs survived the challenge pretty well (as they had for the smaller hills on the first few miles), and I crossed the 6 mile and then 10 kilometer marks at a pace a bit slower than a 7 minute/mile (7:05 or 7:10).  I knew that this pace was pretty fast, but it's not quite as crazy as a 7 minute/mile, and I figured that the track - being pretty flat - would offer a chance to just cruise along and knock out the next 2 miles while maintaining that fast pace.  On the one hand, I was worried because I knew that I was dead tired after holding a pace like that for our 8 mile run, but on the other hand I knew that even if I slowed down a ton after the 8 or 9 mile mark I could still hit my goal of 1:40 (sub-100 minutes).  Either way, I did keep the pace somewhat high on my way around the track, but - as last year - it wasn't anywhere near as cool or easy as I thought it would be.  The track is long, really, really boring, and the crowd was squeezed pretty tightly together by this time (both because they wanted to be on the inside of the curve, but also because I had caught up with, and was in the middle of, the first wave of runners).  Basically, the track was miserable - not because I was feeling terrible - but because I knew I was getting tired, and when you are getting tired you don't want to be dodging around people, bored out of your mind, or finding out that there is a bit of wind pushing you around...  Two things kept me going though: first, the rosary, which I had been praying since mile 2 or so, and was now on the luminous or sorrowful mysteries (I don't remember which ones) and second, it was on the track that Fr. Dustin Boehm (who I didn't know was a priest at the time) passed me and congratulated me for pacing him that entire time (I guess he had been trying to catch me since the beginning of the race).  I managed to stay pretty close behind father as the track slowly slid by (this year I saw the yard of bricks - which wasn't nearly as cool as people made it out to be), but I could feel myself hurting as we (finally) exited the track and a bit later hit mile 9.  Unfortunately, I didn't see the Brute guys here either (as it turned out, they were at the entrance of the track and we had missed each other), so I was starting to feel worn out but managed to struggle on towards mile 10.  

I knew that at mile 10 they were handing out gel packs (which basically give you a boost of electrolytes and sugar) which I figured would help my legs to keep going, and also, at the 10 mile mark I was only 3.1 miles from the finish (a 5k)!  I picked up two the gel things and swallowed about a quarter of one (didn't want to over do it) along with some water (which they were handing out) and I promptly got a terrible stomach cramp.  It was one of those things, I was doing a pretty good pace - so that was good - but I was starting to really feel tired and I was hoping that these gel things would give me the boost I needed to finish strong and they did the exact opposite.  Now, on top of legs that were threatening to collapse, and an uphill last few miles (or so it seemed), I had the added discomfort of a stomach cramp - wonderful...  I forced myself to keep running, knowing that all of the pain wasn't just going to go away if I stopped to walk (and it would be immensely harder to get going again), but those last few miles were absolutely brutal.  I star


The only picture that I could find of me during the race
(near the finish line)
ted praying the rosary again, something that I had forgotten to keep doing during the middle of the race, and eventually crossed the 11 miles mark (almost there, come on), and after an eternity of swinging my lactic-acid-filled legs and jarring my knotted insides I finally also passed the 12 miles mark.  Now, with only a mile to go, and knowing that I could just about walk it and still make it under 1:40 (my pace had only dropped to 7:30 or so for the last few miles), I just kept going.  Yeah, the last mile was uphill, and seemed more like 2 miles (soooo long), but the crowd was cheering, I was almost there, and you just can't stop at that point.  I did run just a tad faster for that last tenth of a mile or so.  I wasn't sprinting by any means, but I wasn't crawling either.  Final time: 1:35:24 (7:16 min/mile pace) - almost 10 minutes faster than my time last year and something like 10% faster as well!  I was really happy to finish with that time - especially considering those harsh last few miles - it was way faster than I had expected (even considering my pretty good times in training).  Some fun numbers: this year I was the 759th person to cross the finish line, last year I was #2347.  This year I finished 90th in my age group (20-24), last year I finished 88th in my age group (14-19).  And, just for fun, I was also the first "Dominic" to cross the finish line!  Dominic  Vahling finished several minutes after me (cutting a few minutes off his time from last year) and Willie was a few minutes after that.  We grabbed some cookies, bananas, chocolate milk (and other such such wonderful things) and headed over to the race for vocations tent to celebrate and wait for the other finishers.


Yeah, so the mini-marathon was awesome!  I was forced to stay in shape the entire semester.  I got to spend a lot of good time with the other guys I was training with.  I got to experience a wonderful Mass at St. John's and a delicious pasta dinner afterwards.  I ran my second mini-marathon - feeling great for the first few miles, keeping the pace high for the middle miles, avoiding collapsing during the last few miles, and finishing with a fantastic time!  I ran for a great cause, got some praying in, offered up a bit of suffering, and had a blast doing it!  
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The End of the Semester and Trusting God with the Future

Well folks, I just finished college!  I managed to survive Monday (which entailed finishing a paper at 2 AM, and knocking out two tough philosophy tests), and then must of us went to the funeral for Joe's brother on Tuesday (hopefully, I can get together a post entirely on that day), so I then had to make up the New Testament test (not too hard because I studied enough for it) and logic (also easier than expected) on Wednesday.  After that, the only final I had remaining was the take-home essay for modern and contemporary philosophy, which was pretty easy (only a few pages long) and only took an hour or two.  

Of course, the difficulties, successes, and completion of finals week isn't enough of a topic for a post regarding the end of the semester and the end of my college career, so I guess I'll spend the rest of this post talking a bit more about the whole experience so far.

To be honest, I've thoroughly, completely, utterly loved seminary over these past two years.  I was scared out of my wits when I showed up, but within hours I had begun to feel the vibe, the energy, the joy, and the intensity of seminary - and I fell in love.  I can't begin to express how wonderful of an experience it has been.  I have learned more than I thought possible - about philosophy, about life, about friendships, about discernment, about faith, about love - and I've enjoyed every moment - including the hard ones, like tests, and dry periods in prayer, and situations that forced me out of my comfort zone, and the awesome ones, like playing in the soccer tournament, those beautiful moments in Mass where everything clicks and it really feels like heaven, going out to eat with some of your best friends, watching countless great movies, spending hours of supreme peace in front of the Blessed Sacrament, study groups.  Yeah, every moment has been phenomenal!  
And now it's all about to change...  On the one hand, I'm excited.  Not only to graduate and enjoy the feeling of completing college, but also to head home (spend some quality time with the family), and then in July to head over to Italy to begin a new (and awesome) chapter in my seminary "career".  Yeah, I'm looking forward to all of it.  But on the other hand, I'm going to miss Brute.  I love the fact that I have a genuine friend in everybody here - something that is going to be much harder when I'm at the PNAC with 250 other guys.  I love the laughter, and music, and singing, and craziness that echos down the halls - this truly is a fun place!  But, on the third hand (whatever that is...), moving on is a bit scary.  Studying in Rome will be fantastic, but it will also be a struggle.  I'll be a long way away from all the great friends I have (here at Brute as well as at home), and my wonderful family - that's hard, it's a sacrifice I wish I didn't have to make...  Most of the guys here at Brute have been moving out yesterday and today and it finally hit me that I won't be seeing a lot of these guys in the near future - it's a happy moment (the semester is over!), but it's also sad.  In 2 months (almost exactly) I'll be doing the same thing with my family and friends back home, and that will be an even more exciting, and even more difficult, moment.  

Still, I'm putting it all in God's hands.  Lord, lead me where you want me, give me the strength to endure the hardships that your vocation entails for me, and grant me the true joy that comes with following You.

The second half of my New Testament final was an exegesis essay on Luke 2:25-35 (the presentation in the temple and Simeon's canticle).  I talked about how Luke's Gospel, all the way through, is looking at how true joy (from God) only comes through a certain amount of suffering, often in self-sacrifice and trusting Him.  Zechariah and Elizabeth experience the pain of not having a child before God gives them one.  Mary is asked to trust God completely, but receives the incarnate joy of Jesus Christ.  Then, arriving at the temple, they are required to offer Jesus back to God, and not only that, but Simeon prophesies that a sword will pierce Mary's heart.  Following God isn't always easy, it isn't always fun; actually it requires sacrifice - only through sacrificing ourselves to Him can He transform us with His joy.  Only through less reliance on ourselves, and more trust in Him, can he replace our pitiable joys with His own.  It's tough to learn - I for sure want to rely on myself, not Him - but ironically, going to Rome - something that I am super excited for - will also end up helping me grow in the trust of God.  God brings good out of evil, but He also bring supernatural good out of our own natural goods (at least, if we let Him).  

Yeah, so I'm excited, and scared, and happy, and unsure - and life continues to spin along.  The future is bright, but a bit unknown at the same time.  Jesus, I trust in You!
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Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

This semester has been absolutely flying by. Not only has every week sped by, due to a relatively heavy course load (last week it still felt like Tuesday on Thursday), but the weekends too have been absolutely chock full of stuff to do (sports, hanging out, events, talks, homework, ministry). It's now my third semester in the seminary, and each one gets better and better. Sure, there were some ups and downs, but seriously, overall it has been absolutely phenomenal so far. That is why I am so surprised at the fact that it is almost over. I only have one full week of classes left (this week is cut short by NCYC, next week by thanksgiving, and the week after that is the week before finals)! It's absolutely crazy! I can clearly remember moving in at the beginning of the semester, and meeting all the new guys, and the first week of classes, and the first wave of tests, and the first discernment dinner, and the many, many community dinners, and the talks on campus, and the midterms, and the soccer tournament, and wow, there has just been so much happening... It has been wonderful, overwhelming, full of growth, and (almost) constant joy! Some of the guys are starting to want the semester to end; I feel like it has just begun. There is so much more to learn, so many more prayers to be said, so much more growth to be had, so much more fun to do. Gosh, I guess it's not a bad problem to have. God is so good! 

Well, that's all for now - sorry, I really want to write something fantastic, deep, and funny, but I'm currently deep into my Augustine/Aquinas and Senior Seminar papers (neither of which will finish themselves), and I should probably focus on getting those done first. Love God, Have fun, and Be Not Afraid!

Please let me know in the comments if this post is almost unreadable because the words are chopped off at the end of each line.  I keep seeing it on my end, and want to make sure that it is just a problem with my computer...  Thanks!
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Day 7 - A week in the life of a seminarian

Good Evening everyone!  Once again, I find myself at the end of the day, and I am just starting my post about what happened...  I hope that you have enjoyed this week of recap. posts - they were fun to write (though they took a while), and you may notice that they have made it to the top of the page - "A week at Bruté".  

Anyway, today began with schola practice at 8:30.  Both guys in charge of the schola decided on this Sunday because it gave us a few weeks to practice up (after parents and pastors day).  We ended up skipping a few practices though, so we weren't quite ready, and had to practice this morning.  I was very glad that we practiced, but I had just recently rolled out of bed, so it was more difficult than normal to hit those high notes (especially in Ave Verum).  I am currently working on the video, so look forward to a post with that.  

Otherwise, Mass was somewhere in between really awesome and just average.  I mean, obviously the Mass is always awesome, but sometimes my participation or perception of it is less wonderful.  This morning, while it was great to be singing and all, it means that half of Mass (more or less) I was thinking about the next song, getting ready for it, and turning my camera on.  Not necessarily bad, but it still kept me from concentrating fully.  On the other hand, Fr. Joe's homily today was spectacular.  As a certain seminarian noted, "that homily was boss!".  The message was simple: who or what is lying at your gate?  Like the rich man to Lazarus, what or who are we ignoring?  Is there someplace that we need to grow, that we need to work on, that we are avoiding?  Is there someone who we haven't taken the time to know, that we haven't been charitable towards, that we haven't shown mercy?  His homily was quite a bit longer and better than this synopsis, but you know, I can't remember everything...

After Mass I had a donut and part of a massive chocolate chip cookie for breakfast (thank you Fr. Joe!).  Perhaps not the most healthy breakfast (OK, definitely not), but there were nuts on the donut, so it couldn't have been that bad.  

I didn't work on much for the early afternoon.  It was one of those rainy, dreary days where you really don't want to do anything...  At 2 PM we had Eucharistic Adoration and a living Rosary over at Marian for religious freedom.  It was supposed to be a procession with the monstrance from the chapel to the football field, but since it was raining they decided to do it all at the football field (I was puzzled too).  Anyway, I helped bring the requisite stuff over to Marian (monstrance, incense, kneelers, bells, etc.), and then I volunteered to be thurifur for the afternoon.  It began with Exposition on the football field.  They had a tent set up with an altar under it, so the Eucharist stayed dry, but myself, the other servers, father, and everybody else, was outside the tent - in the rain.  After a brief prayer for religious freedom (which was just long enough so that my arm was getting ready to fall off from the thurible), another priest read a Gospel passage - in this case the discourse on the bread of life from St. John's Gospel.  He gave a wonderful homily connecting how the truth will set us free, how the truth is found in Jesus Christ (especially in the Eucharist), and how we are led to Jesus through His mother Mary.  He was so enthusiastic about the faith it was phenomenal!  I hope that someday I can have the same fervor and devotion than he did.  

After his homily, this other priest led the living rosary.  I thought it would be kind of cheesy, but actually having a different kid lead each prayer worked out pretty well.  They read a scripture verse in between each Hail Mary, but most of the time I was still kind of distracted just by how different everything was.  It was misting, I was tired, and every so often whichever kid was next would say the Hail Mary in Spanish, or Polish, or German, or Latin, or another language (at which point, instead of thinking how great it was to be part of the universal church, my mind would jump to trying to figure out what the language was...)  You get the picture, I am a weak human being, and sometimes my mind just doesn't want to concentrate.  Something that I thought was really awesome during the rosary, was how the priest, who was walking the microphone around to all the kids leading the mysteries, would gently turn them around to face the altar and Blessed Sacrament.  They weren't being disrespectful per-se, but the way that the rosary stretched around the football field, they had "lined" up all facing inward, and the exposed Blessed Sacrament was outside this circle (off to one side).  It really reminded me where I needed to keep my attention, and helped me refocus   After the Rosary, we chanted the Divine Mercy chaplet, had Benediction, processed out, and the rally was complete.  In total, it took about 2 hours, but it went by pretty quickly.  I am just glad that it didn't ever start raining hard, and that it was warm enough to be tolerable.  (I guess that Father was preaching on how to be martyrs, so perhaps I shouldn't complain about the weather...)

I ate some leftover pasta, salad, and pumpkin pie for dinner this evening - it was wonderful!  Then I worked on the video from the hymns today, took a short nap and went to the community Holy Hour.  It's really funny, a few years back I would have bitterly lambasted doing two holy hours in one day (especially one in the rain), but seminary has given me a much greater appreciation for these intimate moments with Jesus.  Both were wonderful in their own way, during both I struggled to concentrate, but Jesus was truly present to me both times, and just that is amazing.

After the 2nd Holy Hour, 4 of us went over to Marian and played some racquetball   This sport is an absolute blast, if you haven't played it.  Fast, intense, crazy, loud, etc.  I am not that good at it (I run a lot, but usually that is because I am trying to chase down the ball after not being in the right spot to begin with.)  I'm getting better, and I can hit the ball hard, but I still haven't figured out how to track the ball and be in the right spot to hit it back.  We wanted to avoid dwindling away, so after finishing a few games of racquetball, we went to dairy queen and got some blizzards.  I probably ate like 1000 calories of an extreme-chocolate blizzard, and burnt off about 100 playing, but it was a fun evening either way!


And that ends my last "day in the life" post (for the near future).  I hope that these gave you insight into the day-to-day workings of seminary life.  I know that I didn't go into detail very often - I was trying to keep the length reasonable - but hopefully you enjoyed reading (or at least skimming) them, and they make one of you smile.  Keep the prayers coming (please!) - I'll do the same!  Good night, God bless!
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Another Seminarian now has a Blog (and other superfluous tidbits)

Our Lady of Perpetual Help
The chapel in the brand new medical school
at Marian was dedicated to her yesterday!
Good Morning!  I have a lot of reading to do for Augustine and Aquinas today, so this will be (really) short.  Everything is spinning along splendidly here - I've been busy with academics, and sports, and everything else around here, but I guess that should be expected...  Classes are going well, my calculus test yesterday wasn't a train wreck (yay!), and Corey made apple pie for breakfast - the day is going well!  Anyway, another seminarian here at Bruté has started a blog. http://christopherjunior.blogspot.com/  So, you know, check it out.
 
Alright, well, I have a few posts in the "pipeline", but we have a day of recollection this Friday/Saturday (so no blogging during that).  Hopefully I can finish one or two up before that.  Have a wonderful Thursday everybody!
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Last day of the summer job - and one week left of summer vacation

Well, I am happy to say that yesterday was the last day of my summer job.  I worked at the same place as last year, as a "intern" (read: summer help) in the safety department at Titan Wheel.  Basically, I did a lot of filing, auditing, spreadsheeting, etc.  I guess I'll go into a little bit more detail just in case you want to know...


The biggest project I was working on this summer is called the LOTO program.  LOTO, which stands for Lock-Out, Tag-Out, involves using locks and tags on machines so that someone else can't turn the machine on when you are working on it.  Titan Wheel, which, guess what, makes wheels, has tons (literally) of enormous machinery to form, press, punch, paint, etc. different kinds of wheels.  Well, pretty much every machine, if it turned on while someone was working/changing it, would lead to serious injury (that's bad).  


OK, so the LOTO program trains certain people to use lock and tags on a machine to make sure that someone can't accidentally turn it on.  Each person, once trained, gets their own personal lock, and many departments around Titan have cabinets of company locks.  Basically, if a person's one lock isn't enough to lock out all the energy sources on a machine (hydraulic, electrical, pneumatic, gravity, etc.), they are issued the necessary number of locks from these cabinets.

Well, there are probably like 30-40 departments around Titan with these cabinets, most of which have 36 locks (so you're looking at a total of 1000+ locks), and I was put in charge of going around to each of these cabinets and auditing all the locks (as in, I have to put my hands on every lock).  Of course, some of the locks were in use when I came around the first time, and the second time, and the third time...  So, I didn't actually finish auditing (and fixing all problems) until yesterday.  

Of course there were other things that I did:   Like sign off on people's awareness test sheets.  Each employee, yearly, has to take these 24 tests to make sure they are aware of how to be safe.  I probably went through a few hundred of these bundles, and signed all 24 pages in each (So, I was getting close to 10,000 signatures...)  Or like typing up a spreadsheet containing sleeve/glove records.  That spreadsheet crossed the 4000 row mark (so I had to type data into about 40,000 cells).

Last summer, doing much of the same stuff, it was mostly drudgery...  This summer, because I was more familiar with the different areas (and how they worked), I kept more busy (less time waiting for something to do), and I wasn't in the (somewhat stressful) process of applying to seminary and moving out, work wasn't nearly as bad.  Also, this summer has absolutely flown by!   I went to Mass each day at 6:30 AM, worked till 4:00 PM, did Spanish (and wasted time on the computer) till 10:00 PM and repeated.  I know, it sounds really boring, but that doesn't account for weekends.  Just about every weekend I did something fun.  Vacation, launched (and lost) rockets, base-ball games, camping, boating, visiting family - you get the picture.  Just about every minute of my summer something was happening - there wasn't time to be bored.  

I certainly will be enjoying the next week of (more laid back) summer vacation, but what can I say, this summer has been amazing - even with having to work each day.  Of course, the problem with not having any time means I haven't been running much.  That could be a problem because I am the sports dude at Bruté this year and probably I'll need to be in decent shape...  Ah well, I guess I have a week.
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Friday Recap - 4-26-13

Well, here is another weekly recap for you (actually, it will focus mostly on today since that is what I remember best).  This week has been pretty good; below is a quick rundown of what went on in my life (I hope it's not incredibly boring).:

School: I finished several of the essays due next week done (or at least in a state where I could turn them in if I needed to).  I have a few bits of homework left, two different class presentations left, neither of which should be terribly hard, and the Shakespeare paper (yes, I keep pushing it off).  All that will definitively be done by next Friday (whether I want it to or not), so that is the point when I will start studying for most of my finals.  I have 2 on Monday (Theology and Shakespeare), 1 on Tuesday (Sociology), 1 on Wednesday (Asian Philosophies), and two take-homes (Ethics and Music in Catholic worship).  Most are comprehensive, so they will be long and worth quite a bit.  Ah, well, it won't be that bad...

St. Mark
Music: This week I just about forgot that I was cantor on Tuesday (and I'm the guy in charge of the schedule...).  About 5 till Mass, when I typically make sure that whoever is scheduled is there and getting prepared, it hit me that it was my day.  Thankfully, there are plenty of easy Easter hymns, so I just picked one out quickly and went with it.  Actually, most daily Masses are pretty easy unless there is a feast or something, just an entrance hymn and the psalm before the Gospel.  Since this Thursday was St. Mark's feast day, the schola sang for Mass (which was over at Marian because it was Thursday).  It turned out wonderful, no big mistakes and some great songs (and here is my post with videos of them).

Athletics:  This week I played soccer twice (Tuesday and today), for the first times this year; both times were a blast!  Soccer is so much fun primarily because I am pretty good at it.  I don't mean to brag, but while I am pretty fast, my height isn't anything to write home about.  This means that it's harder to play basketball period and it's harder to get open or block in football or frisbee.  In soccer, on the other hand, height doesn't matter as much.  Most of the time the ball is on the ground, and speed is (for me at least) the biggest part of the game - outrunning or maneuvering other people.  Tuesday was rainy and in the 50s, so it wasn't ideal, but we still had fun.  Today, though, was glorious.  It was at least 60 and sunny, and I was playing great - several long shots that actually went in, several good moves, it was a blast!  Running is petering off for the run coming up next Saturday.  This means the runs are shorter, but unfortunately, this means that we go at a faster pace (so they take less time, but aren't necessarily easier).  I ran 3 miles in a bit under 21 minutes right before playing soccer.  It was a pretty fast pace, and I still had something left for soccer - great, fun afternoon!

altar close-up
Mass at Holy Rosary:  This afternoon, after running, playing soccer, and doing Evening Prayer + Benediction, I went to Holy Rosary Parish (In Indy) to attend their Extraordinary Form Mass.  Unfortunately, I have been rather bad at getting over there - there always seems to be something going on (or I just forget).  Anyway, today I went over there for Mass with two other guys (1 of whom goes almost every week, and the other, who had never been to the Extraordinary Form).  Mass was great (as expected), and I think that Adam will be trying it again (I told him that it takes a few times before you pick up on how everything goes).  Every time I go to this church I am struck by how beautiful it is.  Just gorgeous!  The coolest part of Holy Rosary is the sliding altar.  You may notice that there is no free-standing altar, as would typically be used for an Ordinary-Form Mass in which the priest faces the people.  The Extraordinary-Form is always done with the priest facing the same direction as the congregation (ad orientem), but almost all Ordinary-Form Masses are done with the priest facing the people (ad populorum ? - that's a guess).  Anyway, at Holy Rosary the altar against the wall (in the pictures) slides out, away from the wall, for the Ordinary Form Masses.  Unfortunately, it wasn't transformed while we were there, so I can't show it, but when I saw it last time, it was such a "wow" moment.   Ingenuity at its best!
Holy Rosary Church
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2 Weeks to Go

Well folks, I find myself with a few minutes of free time today, a position that is uprising considering that finals will be in full swing in 2 weeks.  Assignment wise, I have 3 papers left: one for theology (4 pages), one for Asian philosophies (3 pages), and one for Shakespeare (10 pages).  Lets just say that I've been postponing the Shakespeare one for a few weeks, but I'm now down to about 10 days to get it done (so I really need to start it).  Otherwise, there is a small assignment in Sociology, and a group project in Shakespeare and I think that is it before finals.  Unfortunately, (in my opinion) all of my classes have finals.  The one for ethics class will be take home (so, that is nice), but most are also cumulative, which I don't particularly enjoy.  Don't feel too sorry for me, I'll make it through alright, but don't expect a ton of posts appearing (not only am I busy, but there isn't a ton of cool stuff happening around here - pretty much everybody is getting busy).  

Yesterday's barbecue with the Serra club (a group that seeks to "foster and affirm vocations to the priesthood and vowed religious life") was a lot of fun.  They attended Evening Prayer with us (and seemed quite proficient in saying it), and then provided a delicious dinner for us.  We ate outside in the courtyard because it was such a beautiful day, and the addition of pulled pork (smoked and sauced)  pretty much made my day.  We threw a Frisbee around for a little while afterwards; it was just for fun, and helped work off the extra plate I ate.  It was actually quite funny; we began playing monkey-in-the-middle with the Frisbee and I somehow ended up guarding Luke (trying to block his throws and/or intercept ones going to him).  Well, lets just say that I am not the tallest guys at the seminary, and Luke is, so there was (quite literally) more than a foot difference in our height.  Not only that, but his arm-span is tremendous.  Needless to say, it was a bit comical, but we still managed to have a fun time.

Tonight we have a inter mural Frisbee game over at Marian, which should be quite competitive.  So far the team I am on has barely lost both our games (within I believe 2 points each time).  Anyway, we are hoping to win tonight...  

On another note, our running training is starting to wind down.  We ran 9 miles on Sunday, and we will probably run 3 or 4 miles for the 3 times this week.  Next week we have one 8 miler, and then it's very easy with I believe a 2 mile run and some walking.  I guess the theory is that we have peaked at 12 miles (so we can definitely do the 13.1 on the 4th), and now we are resting up for the race.  Actually, we met with Fr. Rick Nagel (the pastor at St. John's downtown who is running the race for vocations that day) when we did the ceremony on Sunday at Brute thanking Arch-bishop Buechlein.  He asked us to serve the Mass of the night before (which goes along with a pasta dinner for all the runners), which we, of course, agreed to do.  It should be a lot of fun!

Well, that's all I have for right now.  Sorry these last few posts have been so boring; I haven't managed to think of anything extraordinary, so I'm just trying to keep you up to date.  Keep me in your prayers.  The last few weeks are always the hardest.  Have a fantastic day!
It's St. George's feast day, so I chose this (pretty cool) picture of him.
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