Trousered Ape
An exercise in presumption.
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Amazingly enough, today is the first blogiversary (bloggiversary?) of the Trousered Ape (and, also, my birthday). While it is safe to say that it has not rocketed to the top of the blogosphere (which, if truth be told, was never my ambition in the first place), I have at least managed to keep it up by one shift or another, which was as much as I hoped for and more than I expected; and have even been taken notice of. I offer my heartiest and most sincere thanks to everyone who has stopped by, linked to me, or sent me an email.
Our life has been comparatively smooth since the last update. As those of you who also visit the Bride at The Dizzy Disciple may know, we lost one of our cats to feline leukemia early this month, though the other seems to have escaped. The Bride, thanks be to God and the therapist, has completely recovered from her vertigo. The Equestrienne took an art class for a few weekends and thoroughly enjoyed it; she also entered her story in the local library writing competition (so-called; I suspect them of overconcern with "self-esteem", as every entry was declared a winner). The Storm Queen continues on as usual, mostly enchanting, occasionally extremely disagreeable; although the disagreeable episodes are lessening in intensity and duration: she is growing up.
As I contemplate her growing up, I find myself conscious of - not mixed feelings, for each feeling is entirely separate and pure; nor ambivalence, for my will, supposing it to be effective, would be entirely on one side - at any rate, at one and the same time I know that I shall greatly enjoy encountering the eventual seven-year-old Storm Queen, and that I shall also greatly miss the six-year-old. I don't remember feeling this way about the Equestrienne; perhaps it is most noticeable with the youngest and last.
With spring, of course, comes outside work - not something I am handy at, or enthusiastic about, but which is absolutely necessary if the place is not to look like Tobacco Road. We got our riding new mower (a Poulan, at Home Depot), but with the unseasonably cold weather the grass is not quite yet ready to cut. Meanwhile, I am sporadically occupied with sanding and repainting the front porch, which has not been done for many years.
My job continues to keep me busy, as we continue implementing migrations for two of our old customers (one here in Pennsylvania, one in Vermont) to our current Tax software, and plan for migrating several more. My part in all this, as I have said earlier, is primarily to convert the data, but I also have much to do with adding custom modifications to each site's baseline system. Meanwhile, we keep on developing the next generation of Tax software. I must say that, while I am confessedly guilty of occasional complaints about life at Moonbeam, on the whole I have been very fortunate to have landed there: doing the work I am best fitted for, and for the most part being allowed to do it pretty much in my own way.
Our life has been comparatively smooth since the last update. As those of you who also visit the Bride at The Dizzy Disciple may know, we lost one of our cats to feline leukemia early this month, though the other seems to have escaped. The Bride, thanks be to God and the therapist, has completely recovered from her vertigo. The Equestrienne took an art class for a few weekends and thoroughly enjoyed it; she also entered her story in the local library writing competition (so-called; I suspect them of overconcern with "self-esteem", as every entry was declared a winner). The Storm Queen continues on as usual, mostly enchanting, occasionally extremely disagreeable; although the disagreeable episodes are lessening in intensity and duration: she is growing up.
As I contemplate her growing up, I find myself conscious of - not mixed feelings, for each feeling is entirely separate and pure; nor ambivalence, for my will, supposing it to be effective, would be entirely on one side - at any rate, at one and the same time I know that I shall greatly enjoy encountering the eventual seven-year-old Storm Queen, and that I shall also greatly miss the six-year-old. I don't remember feeling this way about the Equestrienne; perhaps it is most noticeable with the youngest and last.
With spring, of course, comes outside work - not something I am handy at, or enthusiastic about, but which is absolutely necessary if the place is not to look like Tobacco Road. We got our riding new mower (a Poulan, at Home Depot), but with the unseasonably cold weather the grass is not quite yet ready to cut. Meanwhile, I am sporadically occupied with sanding and repainting the front porch, which has not been done for many years.
My job continues to keep me busy, as we continue implementing migrations for two of our old customers (one here in Pennsylvania, one in Vermont) to our current Tax software, and plan for migrating several more. My part in all this, as I have said earlier, is primarily to convert the data, but I also have much to do with adding custom modifications to each site's baseline system. Meanwhile, we keep on developing the next generation of Tax software. I must say that, while I am confessedly guilty of occasional complaints about life at Moonbeam, on the whole I have been very fortunate to have landed there: doing the work I am best fitted for, and for the most part being allowed to do it pretty much in my own way.
Monday, April 25, 2005
Kathryn Lively says:
You know you're a sleep-deprived parent when the last intelligent conversation in which you were engaged was a debate about whether the Wiggle in the red shirt could take on Russell Crowe in a grudge match.
Yup.
You know you're a sleep-deprived parent when the last intelligent conversation in which you were engaged was a debate about whether the Wiggle in the red shirt could take on Russell Crowe in a grudge match.
Yup.
Some overdue updates to the blogroll (now you know why it's always "Under Construction"):
Links to The Anchoress, Minivan Mom, and SoDakMonk have been updated (the last, alas, just as Fr. Kowalski moves his blog to Retired/Inactive status).
The former Perky Papist is blogging under a new name and title, Anne Elliot; erstwhile vociferous yawper Mark Windsor has returned with a new blog, Be Not Afraid...; Dev Thakur has revived "Christ the Physician" under a new title, Against a dictatorship of relativism; the eponymous Eutychus Fell has moved his activities to Lofted Nest; and The Mighty Barrister has returned for a while at least.
Whys Guy and The Wonder of Being Finite have, with regret, been relegated, I hope temporarily, to the Inactive list.
And newly added are:
Exultet
Gathering Goat Eggs
Open wide the doors to Christ!
Prestigious Nonaccredited
Links to The Anchoress, Minivan Mom, and SoDakMonk have been updated (the last, alas, just as Fr. Kowalski moves his blog to Retired/Inactive status).
The former Perky Papist is blogging under a new name and title, Anne Elliot; erstwhile vociferous yawper Mark Windsor has returned with a new blog, Be Not Afraid...; Dev Thakur has revived "Christ the Physician" under a new title, Against a dictatorship of relativism; the eponymous Eutychus Fell has moved his activities to Lofted Nest; and The Mighty Barrister has returned for a while at least.
Whys Guy and The Wonder of Being Finite have, with regret, been relegated, I hope temporarily, to the Inactive list.
And newly added are:
Exultet
Gathering Goat Eggs
Open wide the doors to Christ!
Prestigious Nonaccredited
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
God bless His new Vicar, Benedict XVI, and may the Holy Spirit be with him.
Late to the party (it's so much easier to cruise around St. Blog's and read everyone else's comments than have to come up with my own). I was surprised to hear that Cardinal Ratzinger was, after all, elected; he seemed too obvious a possibility. I was not exactly rooting for him, but that was largely because I was deliberately not rooting for anyone, thinking that it would be presumptuous of me to even hint to the Holy Spirit whom to choose. I would have accepted whomever was elected as His choice.
One thing about him greatly speaks to me:
From John Allen’s 1999 profile:
His bluntness is more than a matter of personal style. It reflects Ratzinger’s deep commitment to — some might say, obsession with — truth. (*)
If there is anything that this age needs, and that I personally need, it is precisely a renewed and unconditional commitment to truth. As someone who finds hyper-partisanship all too easy to engage in, I understand very well the warmth and comfort of a pleasing lie. It seems there are many others who understand it too. But, being not utterly blind, I can also see the effect it has on my soul; so, please, Lord, let us have truth.
(*) Found at The Anchoress; please add her to your blogging routine.
Late to the party (it's so much easier to cruise around St. Blog's and read everyone else's comments than have to come up with my own). I was surprised to hear that Cardinal Ratzinger was, after all, elected; he seemed too obvious a possibility. I was not exactly rooting for him, but that was largely because I was deliberately not rooting for anyone, thinking that it would be presumptuous of me to even hint to the Holy Spirit whom to choose. I would have accepted whomever was elected as His choice.
One thing about him greatly speaks to me:
From John Allen’s 1999 profile:
His bluntness is more than a matter of personal style. It reflects Ratzinger’s deep commitment to — some might say, obsession with — truth. (*)
If there is anything that this age needs, and that I personally need, it is precisely a renewed and unconditional commitment to truth. As someone who finds hyper-partisanship all too easy to engage in, I understand very well the warmth and comfort of a pleasing lie. It seems there are many others who understand it too. But, being not utterly blind, I can also see the effect it has on my soul; so, please, Lord, let us have truth.
(*) Found at The Anchoress; please add her to your blogging routine.
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Friday, April 15, 2005
Saturday, April 09, 2005
Ad mensam dixerunt:
The Ape (having just explained that according to a recent report [sorry, can't remember the link], bathrooms in New York City are open to "transgendered" members of the opposite sex): So, when we visit the Museum of Natural History -
The Bride: Don't use the ladies' room.
The Ape: No, you can, but be very careful.
The Bride:Yes, make sure the woman next to you doesn't have whiskers...That won't work; my grandmother had whiskers.
The Ape: But your grandmother's dead - she won't be in the museum...Well, maybe in a glass case, but not in the bathroom.
The Ape (having just explained that according to a recent report [sorry, can't remember the link], bathrooms in New York City are open to "transgendered" members of the opposite sex): So, when we visit the Museum of Natural History -
The Bride: Don't use the ladies' room.
The Ape: No, you can, but be very careful.
The Bride:Yes, make sure the woman next to you doesn't have whiskers...That won't work; my grandmother had whiskers.
The Ape: But your grandmother's dead - she won't be in the museum...Well, maybe in a glass case, but not in the bathroom.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Pope John Paul II has passed to his reward.
Rest eternal grant him, O Lord; and let light perpetual shine upon him.
Others, more eloquent, more knowledgeable, and wiser than I, will testify to his impact and his legacy. May the College of Cardinals be guided by the Holy Spirit in choosing his successor.
Rest eternal grant him, O Lord; and let light perpetual shine upon him.
Others, more eloquent, more knowledgeable, and wiser than I, will testify to his impact and his legacy. May the College of Cardinals be guided by the Holy Spirit in choosing his successor.
