Finishing May

On Monday I was able to meet with my friend for lunch at the Hobbit Cafe.  Good conversation as always.

Tuesday and Wednesday were my days to finish packing and start getting this moved to the new address.

Thursday I drove down to Brownsville, actually Lyford.  It was a long drive, but not too bad.  On the way I got a text about a tornado near my brother's house in Bryan.  Lots of flooding as well.  Please pray for all those affected by the storms in Texas.  I was able to stay at the house of a friend from seminary, right in the middle of farming country.  It was actually greener than I expected.  It was not too bad. 

On Friday we went to see X-Men: Apocalypse.  It was ok, with some good action scenes, but overall most of the characters were underused.  Perhaps I've been spoiled by Captain America: Civil War.  Then we headed down to McAllen for the ordination at the Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of San Juan del Valle.  The basilica itself was a bit too modern for me.  I was expected more of a Spanish mission feel.  The ordination was beautiful with lots of Spanish.  After the ordination myself and a few other seminarians met for a late dinner (dessert) at a local Italian restaurant.  We got back to the house late for some sleep before I had to drive back on Saturday.

I drove back early on Saturday because we were trying to get the family together one more time before the move.  Unfortunately because of the flooding one family could not make it, but we had a good time regardless.  Sunday was my day of rest.

I set out for Wisconsin on Monday.  The stop overnight was in Springfield, Missouri.  The drive was basically uneventful.  I spent the night at a Route 66 Best Western.  It was ok, though not as unique as the reviews made it sound.  The desk manager recommended I go to lunch at a diner next door, which gives a 10% discount.  The food was alright, and fairly cheap.

Tuesday started with a stop at a local parish for Mass on the feast of the Visitation.  After a quick breakfast, I was on the road to Wisconsin.  The scenery was much better this day heading through the hills of Missouri and the farms of Illinois and Wisconsin.  9 hours later, I arrived at St. Bernard's Catholic Church in Madison.  The pastor and religious education coordinator were kind enough to help me move stuff out of my car up to my room.  Then it was time for dinner.  After a check online, I headed over to a local sandwich joint (Crostini Sandwiches).  Fresh squeezed lemonade, California chicken panini, and a free chocolate chip cookie after I mentioned I just moved in.  It was all good, I will definitely be returning.  I spent the rest of the night moving in my stuff before I got too worn out and called it a night.  Apparently I slept through a strong thunderstorm.

Now, I'm sitting in my new room after the first Mass at the parish (with the windows open, something unthinkable in Houston).  I am looking forward to a good summer getting to know Madison.

A Very Busy Month

May has been and will continue to be quite the busy month for me.  Here is a little look at the place I've been and the things I've done.

Let's start at the very beginning.  (A very good place to start.)  Our last day of class was Thursday, May 5, which ended with a final Mass where the Schola sang the Franz Biebl Ave Maria which we had been preparing since at least Spring Break.  After Mass those of us who were completing Pre Theology were given a certificate of completion. 

Two guys I will miss the most, we survived two years together

The next day was cleaning and move out day.  Instead, I went to see Captain America: Civil War with my good friend from UNT.  My brief review: it's the best movie of the MCU.  That night I was given two tickets to the Mariners/Astros game.  I could not pass up free tickets, especially since they were in the Club Level and I had never been there before.  It was a pretty exciting experience.  Outside of a bases loaded triple in the seventh, Fister pitched well to even his record at 3-3.  Correa went 3-3 with a home run, and we got to see Marwin Gonzalez's first non-solo home run.

I was back at the stadium the next day.  I had planned for a while to bring my dad as his birthday present, plus I wanted to get the Dallas Keuchel bobblehead.  Keuchel actually pitched decently, though he gave up solo home runs in the first two innings to Robinson Cano and Kyle Seager (both lefties).  The Astros tied it when Valbuena (finally) hit his first home run of the year in the bottom of the ninth to send it to extra innings.  Cano ended it with his second home run of the game in the tenth.  It was another in a long line of losses the Astros should have won.

Pictured: losing pitcher

The next week was full of packing for the move.  I also got rid of a bunch of stuff, including all of my notes from graduate school and my dissertation.  It was surprising how easy that was.  I able to have dinner with some good friends Monday night.  Then on Friday I went down to Clear Lake to hang out with my friend again and go back to Space Center Houston one last time.  Of course it's different now, especially with that giant (fake) space shuttle on the 747.  It was a cool tour, and it's always great to be reminded of how large/small the shuttle was.  (Large overall, tiny in the living space.)

The early part of the next week included a fair amount of packing again.  Then, my first big adventure.  On Thursday, I headed up to Bryan/College Station to see my brother and family.  After lunch with him, I headed over to Texas A&M for one last look around.  Unforunately it was raining fairly hard, so I pretty much cut it down to the Memorial Student Center, the Academic Building, and Kyle Field.  I even snuck into the 12th Man Foundation part of the Zone of Kyle Field.  I walked around like I knew what was doing, and found a door open to a hallway that looked like it headed somewhere near the field but was too chicken to find out more.

That night, we were able to go to Blue Bell Park to see the #2 Aggies take on the #6 Rebels in the final homestand of the season.  It was my first trip to the recently renovated field, and we all had a good time.  The Ags scored in the bottom of the first and the Rebels tied it in the second, then it was solid pitching and a horrible strike zone by the ump.  But the Aggies prevailed, scoring 5 runs in the 6th inning.  There just might be some young Aggies here yet.

Friday I had a good day beginning with taking my niece and nephew to get donuts before school.  After a little down time with my brother, I drove up to Dallas where I was staying the night at Holy Trinity Seminary.  The power was out when I got there, but that allowed me to spend some time talking with a couple of seminarians from Galveston-Houston, reading, and a little nap.  I grabbed a quick dinner at Smashburger (my first time, it was ok), then back to the seminary to watch the Astros lose to the Rangers in their spacious TV lounge.  Saturday was the big day: going to the Fort Worth Priestly Ordination.  St. Patrick's Cathedral is quite beautiful.  While vesting in the sacristy, I was amazed to look up and see a stained glass window of my favorite saint Maximilian Kolbe.  What a treat!  The ordination was a moving experience (actually my first priest ordination).  I knew I was going to have to drive down to Houston after it, so I was hoping to see my friend and get his first blessing quickly at the reception.  I was worried by the number of people, but I realized they were all waiting in line for food, so I went right up to his table.  I was greatly blessed when he stopped everything to bless me first!  Again, it was a great experience.

I came back on Saturday so that I could go to the Astros game on Sunday with my sister and nephew, probably our last chance to do so together in Houston.  The final score was terrible (9-2 and another sweep), but we had a good time together, even if he got all jacked up on cotton candy.

Now I'm starting off another very busy week, with a trip to Brownsville in store before I move up to Madison for good.  I'll have to give an update as everything progresses.