"For God's Sake - Blog!"

So this evening I was sitting here in front of my computer reading MSNBC.Com and I came across an article titled "For God's Sake - Blog!". Being someone who has been know to like to blog, this article immediately caught my attention. Once I began to read it the whole topic engaged me beyond belief. The article was written and distributed by Reuters to whom I must give credit as I wanted to quote the first two paragraphs of this article. The first two paragraphs read as the following: "VATICAN CITY - For god's sake, blog! Pope Benedict told priests on Saturday, saying they must learn to use new forms of communication to spread the gospel's message. In his message for the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Communication, the pope who is 82 and known not to love computers or the Internet acknowledged priests must make the most of the "rich menu of options" offered by new technology." There are many different comments to be made about some of these statements by the pope. The first is - I wonder if Benedict truly understand the genie that he might be letting out of the bottle by his desire to have priests begin to use this "rich menu of options". The level of openness and introspection that is intrinsic to the Internet does not typically sit well with the hierarchial nature of the Roman Catholic church. On top of this I don't necessarily see the message that the Roman Catholic Church is teaching is flexible to fit the personal nature of the Internet. The message sent by the Catholic Church is of one monolithic faith with little "personalization" of belief. On the flip side of this you have the "born-agains" who believe that everyone's salvation is driven by their personal "re-birth" in Christ. Therefore, I don't see what the personal messages of priest and other Roman Catholic luminaries as reflecting much other than the standard orthodoxy of the church. (Heck if a priest were to get too personal in his viewpoints about the religion he could get ex-communicated!) I am sure many will say that this viewpoint is driven by the fact that I am a non-religious person. I don't see it that way. I feel that this viewpoint is born of an in-depth understanding of the Roman Catholic Church and a strong opinion about the authoritarian tendencies of the current pontiff. Just a few thoughts on what I perceive to be an interesting subject! We hope everyone is having a great weekend so far! Thanks and peace to all! ~J.

A Visit While on My Business Trip

Several weeks ago when I knew I was going to be coming to Raleigh I called my brother Paul in Charlotte and let him know I was coming. Originally I was going to travel through Charlotte and see my brother and his family then. As things moved along it became apparent that wasn't going to work. The key reason was due to the cost of the airfare and the amount of time it would have taken me to drive from Charlotte to Raleigh. I ended up flying into Raleigh and made a plan with my brother to meet for dinner half way between Raleigh and Charlotte on Tuesday evening. I was concerned that my work schedule was going to be a bit nuts and I would have to forego my trip to meet Paul. As a result I worked my proverbial ass off to get everything done on Monday that I possibly could. I handled conference calls, e-mails and every report that I could get done that was due on Tuesday so that my workload would be reasonable. Somehow I managed to pull it all off and was able to walk out of the office shortly after 4:00PM EDT. We had tentatively agreed to meet somewhere around Greensboro, North Carolina. Greensboro is about 90 miles to the Southeast of Raleigh. Thankfully there was no major amounts of traffic and I was able to get on the road and moving very quickly. We finally met up in a little town called Thomasville - I think it is where they make the Thomasville furniture. There aren't too many places to eat in Thomasville other than the normal fast food places. There was one sit down restaurant - a Ruby Tuesday's. So we decided upon that. We had a nice conversation over dinner. It had been close to a year and half since I had seen Paul so the opportunity to see each other was great and was really appreciated. I am hoping that in this coming year I can get more time with my family. As we get older the occasions we have to get together seem to get fewer and fewer. So any chance to see one of my brothers or sisters is a good thing. I hope everyone is having a great week! Thanks and peace to all! ~J.

Sunday Night = Travel Night

As Yogi Berra used to say... "It's like deja vu all over again". It sure feels that way as I am spending a Sunday night out of town and in a hotel again. It is like I have been transported back in time to the 1990's or early 2000's. Back in those days, I would be home for maybe 72 hours a week and I would spend the rest of the time out of town for work. This Sunday finds me in a similar situation.

Instead of my old haunts of San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia this Sunday I find myself in Raleigh, North Carolina. To reach Raleigh at a reasonable hour from Denver, I had to leave my house around 9:00AM Sunday morning. I left Denver on a 11:42AM flight headed for Washington DC. On key difference between now and then is back then I would have definitely been flying first class for a three and half hour flight. Now adays without any status on any airline I am back in cattle car country - sandwiched in between people in seat 9E. At least it was better than my first originally assigned seat - 21B which wasn't even in the economy plus seating. Economy plus on United at least offers you a few extra inches of leg room!

I got to fly on one of my favorite types of planes for the flight to DC. It was a Boeing 757. I am not exactly sure why a B757 is one of my favorites exact for the fact that it seems like it has a lot of power. But I like it! One the flight from DC to Raleigh the plane was an Airbus A320. Unfortunately I got stuck in another center seat as my flight into DC was overdue and so my window seat on that flight was given away - and I ended up in a center seat again - yuck!

One of the other things I was thinking about today as I was flying was how much time I have spent in the air during my life. I really do not like flying. In the past I had an intense fear of flying and significantly struggled every time I had to get on an airplane. I am no longer at that point in life - as my fear of flying has greatly diminished. I think my fear has diminished simply because I have spent so much of my life on airplanes. As I waited for my flight to depart Denver today, I counted it up and I realized that between the 2 major airlines I have flown in my life - United and USAirways - I have flown over 1.1 million miles! Think of that... 1.1 million miles on airplanes. That doesn't even count all the other airlines I have flown like Northwest (at least 50,000 miles), American and Continential (at least 15,000 per airline), Lufthansa (at least 40,000 miles) and countless others for an unknown quantity of miles.

If you figure an jet goes on average 400/miles per hour I have spent approximate 2750 hours in the air which translates out to 114 entire days. The assumption of a jet travelling on average 400/miles per hour I think is a pretty generous estimate and I am sure the average is probably lower. That also only include the amount of time in the air. That does include taxi time or time spent on the ground waiting and waiting and waiting.

So what is the point of all that... Not much really. It is just kind of fun to think about the amount of time we spend doing different activities and to break it all down. As much as it might seem silly I do look forward to the day in which I can claim my 1 million mile level on United. (Still got 400,000 miles to go, but I do think someday I am going to get it!)

I hope everyone has a great week ahead!

Thanks and peace to all! ~J.