Greetings from Texas!

First off, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I wanted to write a bit before the holidays, but just got busy, so I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah for my Jewish friends and thank you all for the well wishes for a happy birthday, it was nice and quiet and pretty uneventful, I did fix Fr. Joe's hard drive though, so that was a nice birthday present.

Anyswho... I am now in Houston, in case you didn't know. Bill and I came for the Texas Bowl and took a couple of days to hang out and check out some stuff. The game was awesome, if you didn't see it, it was pretty much a butt kicking, 37-10, but the game was actually still in question at halftime, even though RU was outplaying K-State in just about every facet of the game. Anyway, it was a great experience and I am just glad I could see Rutgers first bowl game. Next year, hopefully we get some of you other guys out here as well, it's a blast!

We also went to the Johnson Space Center on Thursday and yesterday we went down to Galveston. The weather wasn't perfect... actually it was pretty wet, but it didn't stop us from having some fun. We went to an offshore oil rig museum, and a movie about the great storm, a hurricane that hit Galveston back in 1900 and killed about 6,000 people, and then went to the beach to check out the Gulf of Mexico which was nice and choppy. After that we went searching for a house that Bill's Dad used to have and the hometown of both Sue and Joe and finally found it after a couple of mistakes and talking to a scary lady with a dog. Today is our last full day here before flying out, we were planning on getting in a round of golf, but the weather does not seem to be giving us much of a shot at that, so we are going to go around Houston and take a tour of the Saint Arnold Brewery.

Well, I guess that is enough for now, I hope to post lots of pictures on webshots when I get back. Until then, I hope all is going well and I wish you all a happy and healthy New Year! But first, your moment of zen... it's how I handle business, it's a metaphor... but that actually happened though. God bless and take care!

Back in Jersey!

I am finally back in Jersey!!! Yes, I know I was just here 3 weeks ago for Thanksgiving, but I missed it. I had a really loooooong trip yesterday and by the time I got in I was just ready to pass out. First, I had car issues I still don't know what the deal was... I tried to start the car and it turned over and then it was just died (kind of reminded me of working with a snowblower, if the choke wasn't set properly). Anyway, I checked everything fluid wise and tried to see if there was anything else that could have caused the problem before calling the maintenance guy, when he finally got there it just turned over and was like normal... so I am crossing my fingers that everything works again today. So that brought me to about 2 PM, and I was trying to make it back for a Holy Hour for Vocations in Somerville at 7. Well I was still in Philly at 6 so needless to say I didn't make it :(... sorry Seton Hall guys and all considering vocations, please know that I was united with you in prayer though. On another note, please pray for a special intention of mine for a seminarian who is no longer studying for the priesthood, that he may have the grace and wisdom of Our Lord during this difficult time. Thank you it means a lot to me. If you are interested in vocations, I highly recommend viewing the fishers of men video I think it is excellent and own a copy if you cannot get the website to work.

Now I am taking a day or two to hang out with Bill, John, Beth and Philly and do our normal ginger bread house (I am sure pictures will follow in the next posting) before heading to St. Bernard's for Christmas. I hope to get out to OLMV to say hello as well... otherwise I am working on videos for Guatemala (yes I haven't finished it yet) and another special thing for St. Mary's. Plus I still have most of my Christmas shopping to do, so it should be a pretty busy time for me. one second, time for a coffee break. ok, much better now. Speaking of breaks, yesterday's pearls before swine was brilliant (note that there is a link to pearls before swine over on the right)

My recommendation for a healthy living other than praying, working out, and eating right includes reading pearls every morning.

I think in addition to all the stuff that I need to get done and want to get done, I also am going to try to find some time to read. Apparently the new Michael Crichton novel looks like something I'd like to read, but I still have a lot on my reading list to catch up on, so we'll see how that goes.

I still have a trip to the Texas Bowl to work out, I am trying to get my old college buddy Mike to go as well since he bleeds Scarlet (well, I guess we all kind of do...), but he came into his wedding reception to the RU fight song. As Dr. Constantinides might say.... YEZZZZZZZZ! Oh and speaking of Rutgers Chemical Engineering, congrats to Caleb Bermudez, who is now engaged!!!!

OK, well it is time to get another cup o' joe and see if my truck works before taking Philly for a walk... but first, your moment of zen, a classic. hope your Advent season is going well!!! Hope to hear from you soon. God bless and take care!

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe and I just felt that I should write something to thank our Blessed Mother for her intercession on our behalf, especially with the assistance that we all need during this time of exams. I am also thinking of the wonderful people that I met this past summer on my trip to Guatemala since this feast usually makes me think of the people of Mexico and Central America. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ!

Such a slacker, holidays and finals

LOOK OUT CHRIS, HERE IT COMES!!!! YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!! As I start off this new blog entry, I just want to wish my big sis a very very happy birthday in a couple days.

Other than that, yes, I know same as always, Keith is slacking off and not getting updates to his blog. Actually things have been quite busy recently (I know I always say that). I was all over the place from a week before Thanksgiving up (mostly in the Diocese of Metuchen) and have only been greeted with papers and finals coming back to St. Mary's. Oh and add to that that I was sick for like this whole past week and it has been none too fun for me. But enough about complaining, things are getting done and so I decided to write to the blog before it was over a month that people were waiting to hear from me. So, again my apologies and thanks for understanding (even if you don't). And if you don't, I will hit you with a snow ball.

Let's see now, Thanksgiving went really well, just before hand I got to serve as MC for Bishop Hughes at two Confirmations at St. Bernard's in Bridgewater which was a great experience. Later that weekend we celebrated our 25th Anniversary as a Diocese with a Mass and a dinner before I headed home for the holiday.

As usual, the high school crew got together (now more and more with their spouses and soon to be children :) ) and reminisced about the old days. As you can see from this wonderful picture taken at Cheeseburger in Paradise, we are not all that different from when we were in high school (i.e. a little weird), but Steve and John we always knew that about them! I was really happy to see Nicole and Ryan come up and got to spend a little bit of quality time, never quite enough, catching up there. Then a few more friends showed up for the yearly breakfast, although this year we changed venues from IHOP to the Park West Diner and for the first time since my youth ministry days I needed to call ahead for a table of 22. Unfortunately, the weather was cold and wet all Thanksgiving morning, so only a couple of us decided to venture out to the football game. Oh did I fail to mention that Clifton went on to win that game and headed to the playoffs where they became the 2006 Group 4 North 1 Champions! GO MUSTANGS!!!! The band did not perform because it just was not possible (although, back in my days we would have tried ;) ) but I did get to see Mr. Morgan and wish him and his family the best before we left a little after halftime. Anyway, it was a great time and I am glad that I got to spend some time with you. Dinner with the folks and grandparents was uneventful, but very very enjoyable, dad made pumpkin soup which wasn't too bad. Then I passed out on the couch as usual... you can't go wrong with Turkey Day. I finished up the weekend hanging out with John, Beth and Bill in North Brunswick, doing some Christmas shopping and forgetting an apple pie that Sue baked for me in their condo. Luckily, I knew I was going to see Bill the next week when I headed up to the Eagles - Panthers game in Philly and I enjoyed every last bit of that pie since. THANKS AGAIN SUE!!!!

Finals are quickly approaching, actually they take place this week! It is not too bad though, I have two exams and two papers to finish up. I hope to finish one paper today and start on the second and already have my study questions done for the exams. I will be heading back somewhere around the 15th and staying at St. Bernard's in Bridgewater until Christmas Morning when I will head back to Clifton for two days before leaving for Texas and the Scarlet Knights bowl game against Kansas State, buy your tickets today!!! It will be my first time back in Houston since September 11 (I was on a business trip at the time), so I wonder if it is going to seem weird being down there again. Anyway, I'll be back on the 31st and then head back to Baltimore on the 8th of January. I am available to do stuff between the 15th and the 23rd of December, but will be in Central Jersey. Anywho, wish me luck on my finals and I will talk to you all soon! God Bless and take care!

Oh and don't forget in honor of bowl season, here is Your site of the Day