Cingular Palm Trees

So I thought this picture was cool, too. I also took it at the retreat center this morning. These trees look like they could be in a Cingular commercial; you know "more bars in more places." Look at that beautiful blue sky.

On retreat

Last night I took an overnight retreat. It was an assignment for class. Here are my options for the final project for this spiritual formation class of mine: 1) Write a 15-17 page paper 2) Do an overnight retreat and write a 10 page paper. The choice is clear! I took the retreat from early yesterday afternoon 'til 11:00 this morning at Mater Dolorosa Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, which is about 10 minutes from where I live. It is a Catholic retreat center, run by the Passionists, who devote themselves to remembering the suffering of Jesus, and it's nestled up against the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. It's a very nice place, except maybe for all the pictures of Jesus bleeding everywhere. My time there was very relaxing. I highly recommend solo retreats. How many of you have ever spent serious time in solitude? It is a good thing. Anyway, here are some views from the last two days. One is of the retreat house just after 7:00 a.m. and the other is the view from the retreat center grounds looking out over the San Gabriel valley near sunset. That clump of skyscrapers off in the distance is downtown Los Angeles, and the clump of sort of tall buildings toward the right is pretty much where I live in Pasadena.

Those crazy Lutherans...

So, the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) has decided to encourage exercise this summer with a program called "Summer Steppin'." Just look at this great little exercise version of Martin Luther. The Reformer meets Richard Simmons.

Long time, no blog

Hey well, at least I managed to avoid a one month absence this time around. I'm trying to think of what you might want to know that's been going on with me since April 21. I've been to another baseball game since then. I think I'm good luck for the Dodgers. They don't win a lot, but they won both games that I attended. The last one I went to was sort of thrilling even. They beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 with a game winning RBI in the bottom of the 9th. There were fireworks after the game, too, for it was Cinqo de Mayo (is that spelled right?).

Any of you into American Idol? I have to say that I've followed it pretty closely the last two seasons. So many unexpected twists this year. Paris getting voted off was, I think, a sign of just how fallen we are as humans. As one of my instructors said, "She had more talent in one vocal chord than the rest of those schlubs put together!" True that. And then Chris. That was quite a shock. Totally depraved for sure. Now that only Taylor and Katherine are left, I'm pulling for Katherine. She had a couple of fairly poor weeks, but did rather well on the most recent episode I thought. Besides, as I told my roommate, talent is secondary in these issues. At any rate, I can't wait for the eschatalogical episode coming up this week. It may be an occasion for Papa John's. Enough on the theology of American Idol, though.

I've gotten into the Harry Potter books. It all started because I wanted something fantasy-like to read on the plane when I went home for Spring Break. I got book one for that trip, and now I'm on book four. It's been great so far. I can't wait 'til I catch up to the movies so there will actually be an element of suspense.

The main reason I haven't blogged in a long time is that I'm psycho-busy. Two weeks from tomorrow I fly to Wisconsin, where I will be until August 12 (at which point I will return to LA for departure on transoceanic voyage - more on that later). I'm headed to Green Lake this summer to be the assistant director for Quest. But before I can leave I have a large chunk of coursework to finish. And that's where I am now. Tonight I'm going to see the DaVinci Code.