Thursday, September 03, 2009

Just to get this stuff out of my head

Too much going on to concentrate on a real post. Maybe getting some of this out of my head will quiet the voices inside it...

Why would a Catholic institution proudly announce a retreat with a leader who is "an internationally recognized Ignatian scholar...who brings Eastern influence to Western spirituality..." Oh, wait...never mind.

If Brown County can pay off the Lambeau Field debt so quickly through their 1/2 percent sales tax, why can't Milwaukee County pay off the stadium debt (admittedly, much higher to begin with, but the stadium tax is assessed in five of the most populous counties in the state) rather than continually talking about extending the tax further than its 2014 end date? Oh, wait...never mind.

It really stinks that after moving to a new practice, my doctor is no longer a listed provider for my insurance. He moved to get out of the huge, mega-medical grind into a smaller system with more emphasis on patient care. Apparently, my insurance prefers soul-sucking, overcharging, patients-as-dollar-signs type medical centers. Since other members of his new practice are on my provider list, I'm holding out hope this may be a temporary thing, and the paperwork for the new alignment will go through quickly...

After twenty-five years, they are revising the best-selling New International Version of the Bible. The task is primarily to look at "gender issues" and to update language (the example used was from Corinthians somewhere, where Paul says, "I was stoned," which will be changed to "I was pelted with stones" to eliminate the unintentional image of the Apostle Paul high on weed). While I'd agree that language usage changes, and as a dynamic rather than literal translation the NIV should be more sensitive to those changes, I fear that the real reason for the revision is to dumb down the language a bit. Apparently the revisionists aren't familiar with the Scripture passages that say that the Holy Spirit will help us understand what we read - regardless of the complexity of the passage. Bah. Personally, I love the newish English Standard Version, a literal translation that reads well without changing the meaning of the original texts. Frankly, the ESV study Bible absolutely ROCKS.

Yesterday, my landlady called to say the scheduled garage demolition/rebuilding was to start that day. From what I could see when I drove the garbage around to the alley this morning, the "start" consisted solely of cutting down the bushes next to the garage that are the primary reason I drive my garbage to the alley, rather than walking it out the back door. At this pace, the project won't be done by the time the snow flies.

Speaking of the alley, how is it that the people across the alley always have a huge mound of broken furniture, boxes, pieces of carpet and other things piled up for the trash guys to collect? Is it collected at all, or is this simply an ever-growing pile of refuse? Between the trash and the cars they continually park sideways against their garage (who knows - it's probably full of junk) I have problems getting my little Civic past their place.

Stupid Amazon. I paid for quicker shipping. They split my order (a whopping three items) into two shipments; the one that I really, really want before the weekend won't get to me until Saturday, according to the tracking. If they miss that date - and that is the absolute outer limit of the shipping option I chose - it will be Tuesday before it arrives. Add to that the fact that, in spite of living two blocks from my zip's Post Office, my mail doesn't arrive until after four p.m. most days, and I'm pretty peeved.

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