Thanksgiving Fragments

This morning I said Mass at Trinity Chapel, which is always a little liturgical treat. It's a pretty straight-forward BAS Modern-Rite Holy Eucharist. Interestingly, they have an organist so we can sing a hymn and some of the service music. This would be a great place to do some paperless singing sometime.

After that I've been running from one thing to the next. Not crushingly hectic, but busy. I assembled the second Ikea table that we'll be using for the Advent Liturgy configuration. I also showed some architecture students around the place (every year or so a group of students are tasked with writing a paper about the place for an Architecture course at George Brown). Meanwhile, our cleaners are stripping and waxing the Nave floor. The Yoga folks have been complaining about how dirty the floor has been lately, and this is apparently due to the need for a stripping and rewaxing of the floor--precisely the kind of detail one learns about in the exciting field of Parish Administration!

It's been a season for minor repairs and upgrades to the building. Yesterday Bell fixed a phone line and the roofers took a look at their project. The organ tuners also did their work. Next week the electrician will come by to install another exterior light for the playground. Soon the security camera people will come and install some interior cameras. And we have an appointment with the church handyman to install a new doorbell! Amazing how quickly these kinds of projects accumulate!

Yesterday we had an excellent meeting of the Christ-Centred Character Group. Our Resource Centre continues to take shape. Recently we've made the decision to change the name to "Centre for Excellence in Christian Education." Concerns were expressed about using "Anglican Resource Centre," you see. Right now we are still waiting on some grant requests we've submitted, but I remain optimistic that we'll get some money and be able to roll it out this winter. We've already been able to lend out a few materials here and there.
Behold: Turducken!

For Thanksgiving this year we'll going out with some friends to a restaurant that specializes in southern cuisine. I'm anxious to try Turducken for the first time. Imagine a Turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken! Some people even add a quail inside the chicken and possibly a hardboiled egg in the centre. They also advertised a gravy made with bourbon and Grand Marnier. Yumm!

This year I'm thankful most of all for Betsy and our soon-to-come son. Bringing new life into the world turns out to be fulfilling to the extreme. It's neat to see how it has shifted Betsy and my relationship in positive ways and how I'm already beginning to think differently about many things. I think I'm becoming a father....

-t

The Zen of Lock Picking

Some friends asked us to feed their cat. I couldn't find they key they left us, so in desperation I pulled out my lock picks and managed to pick the lock after about half an hour of trying. I was quite proud of myself, especially since I haven't tried picking a lock in years. I felt very 007.

Why, you might wonder, would I have that particular skill, much less a simple set of lock picks? Well, the theology of it the task of lock picking appeals to me--the notion that no barrier is insurmountable if one is willing to a little knowledge and lot of patience. I took up the hobby of lock hacking when I was in Seminary. I bought a simple set of picks and practiced on a spare lock I found. When other people in seminary would knit, I would take out my lock and start picking. At first it would take me an hour or more to pick the lock. Later I got it down to 15 minutes as I learned the weaknesses of that particular lock.

One of the nice things about picking locks is that it doesn't do any damage to the lock. It simply manipulates the mechanical mechanism of the lock in a way that that takes advantage of the inherent weaknesses of the lock design. Obviously, using a set of lock picks for a criminal purpose is illegal, but owning a set of lock picks is not (with a few exceptions, like the UK). The movies make it look like all one needs to is stick a piece of wire in a lock and wiggle it around, in truth lock picking takes a lot of time unless one is extremely skillful or uses a gadget like an electric lock pick. That's why criminals will likely simply break the door or a window rather than bother picking a lock.

Each lock is a puzzle--cracking that puzzle with diligent effort is very satisfying. So how's it done? To begin with, understand that pin-and-tumbler locks all have the same basic structure, a internal cylinder in a tube that pulls the bolt when it is rotated. A series of two-part pins prevents that rotation, unless a key in the lock pushes the pins into an alignment. The diagram ought to give a sense of what I mean.
Ideally, if one tries to turn the "plug" without the pins being aligned, all the pins would bind against the hull of the lock with equal force. The the world isn't perfect, and neither is any lock. Tiny manufacturing defects cause the pins to bind in a sequential order. To pick the lock, one applies gentle torque to the lock and then manually sets each individual pin until it releases and the next pin binds.

The trick is that the subtle amounts of pressure needed on the torque wrench versus the pick requires a lot of practice to detect. Further, many locks have features designed to make all of this more difficult. So in real life, picking a lock requires the ability to "see" the inside of the lock. You have to sort of imagine the unseen reality of the lock. See what I mean about the "theology of lock picking"?

There is a lot more to know. if you are curious, check out the MIT Lockingpicking Guide, which is considered a classic in hacker culture. It covers most of what you need to know to get started. In truth it takes ALOT of practice to be able to actual pick a lock. If someone wants to compromise a door there are far easier ways to do it. In fact, police and locksmiths are more likely to use an automatic lock picking tool of some kind.

Anyway, one of those things that's fun to know!

-t

Alan Turning (Finally) Gets an Apology

It's no exaggeration to say that Alan Turing was one of the greatest minds of the modern age. His work as a mathematician created the foundation for computer science. Even though crude computers were just being built, he came up with theories about Artificial Intelligence that are still influential. His contributions in other fields, such as Chemistry, that are also substantial.

His genius became essential to the Allied efforts to break the German Enigma Code in WWII. Working for the British Government, Turing created and refined methods to break the most complex cypher in use. it's difficult to imagine how difficult this problem was to solve, but to give you a sense: consider that there are 10 to the 22nd power possible combinations in the Enigma code. That means 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible codes. Turning figured out how to use a simple computer to test these possible solutions. To do this, he invented the logic behind "the bombe"--a cryptanalytic machine that tested possible Enigma code settings.

Professor Jack Good, cryptanalyst working at the time with Turing at Bletchley Park, later said: "Turing's most important contribution, I think, was of part of the design of the bombe, the cryptanalytic machine. He had the idea that you could use, in effect, a theorem in logic which sounds to the untrained ear rather absurd; namely that from a contradiction, you can deduce everything." (source)

Eventually his team was breaking 3,000 messages a day! We cannot underestimate how important this contribution was to the war effort.

Turing was relatively open about being homosexual during the war, but after the war was prosecuted for "Gross Indecency" and given the choice of chemical castration (through hormone injections) or jail. He chose castration and underwent the procedure. He was stripped of his security clearances. In 1954, a year after his conviction, he was found dead in his home from cyanide poisoning. The circumstances are ambiguous, which suggests that his death may have been accidental (from the careless handling of lab chemicals) or even murder. The assassination theory is based on the anxiety at the time of the KGB compromising people using homosexuality to entrap them. This was the time of the Cambridge Five, after all.

Suicide is the most likely answer. Indeed, he did report feeling hounded by the crown. The court-ordered hormone injections led to some disturbing side effects, like the growth of breasts, that he had to live with. He was only 41 when he died. Who knows what his contributions could have been had he lived longer.

Recently the British Government finally apologized for its treatment of Turing after the war. About time!

-t

Colder Room = Better Sleep

I know this is true! From the NYTimes:

Studies have found that in general, the optimal temperature for sleep is quite cool, around 60 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit. For some, temperatures that fall too far below or above this range can lead to restlessness.

Temperatures in this range, it seems, help facilitate the decrease in core body temperature that in turn initiates sleepiness. A growing number of studies are finding that temperature regulation plays a role in many cases of chronic insomnia. Researchers have shown, for example, that insomniacs tend to have a warmer core body temperature than normal sleepers just before bed, which leads to heightened arousal and a struggle to fall asleep as the body tries to reset its internal thermostat.

For normal sleepers, the drop in core temperature is marked by an increase in temperature in the hands and feet, as the blood vessels dilate and the body radiates heat. Studies show that for troubled sleepers, a cool room and a hot-water bottle placed at the feet, which rapidly dilates blood vessels, can push the internal thermostat to a better setting. (source)

-t

The Most Awesome Thing You Will See Today...

The most awesome thing you will see today: a car crash at 650 MPH. Mythbusters wanted to see if they could fuse two cars together by colliding them. When a combined speed of 100MPH and the mass of two semi-trucks didn't do the trick, they tried a two-stage rocket sled designed to test missile warheads. The steel sled hit the car at about 650 MPH (nearly 948 ft/sec). This is faster than many bullets. As you can see in the high-speed, the metal seems to become virtually liquid in the grips of so many energy. (Incidentally, it would be nice to know how much the sled weighed so as to be be able to calculate the Kinetic Energy.) Enjoy...



-t

Strange Moments in Cultural Exchange

One of the things that interests me is the interaction between otherwise separate cultures. The cross-cultural exchange is one of the most important dynamics of social exchange to understand these days. It's one of the reasons I went abroad to study in Nepal in College. With Pakistan in the news so much, the problems of translation or exchange are on my mind.

Of course, the intersection between the Islamic East and the West is particularly fraught right now. The culture of Pakistan is so fundamentally different from that of North America that the exchange between the two deserves a lot of attention. So when I saw this article in the New York Times it really caught my attention. There is a company in Pakistan that makes leather fetish gear for export to the West. Despite being located in the heart of one of the most conservative cultures in the world and receiving threats from hardliners, this business manages to thrive. Most of the people working there have no idea what they are making, but the design department in the basement and the owners sure do! Why fetish wear? Because the owners of the company started off looking for a niche market for leather goods and stumbled upon this one. My favourite line in the piece, "70% of our customers are Democrats." No kidding. Also note the cognitive dissonance of the business manager, who has some idea what his company makes but no idea why anyone would want it.

-t

News Stories

ABC News last night ran several stories of interest to me. For one thing, there was a segment about one my favorite churches: St. Paul's Chapel, Manhattan. The Chapel barely (some say miraculously) survived the collapse of the neighboring World Trade Centre and became a centre of ministry to the rescue workers for months afterwards and then an important American pilgrimage site for years. They just cleaned enough of the 9/11 dust out of the organ to play it again for the first time since 9/11. Both Marilyn Haskel and Daniel Simmons, who were at the St. Gregory of Nyssa Conference in San Francisco with me last year, have brief interviews on the segment. Daniel is new on the staff of Trinity Church (which includes St. Paul's Chapel) and has a great job title: "Priest for Pilgrimage." Cool guy

Also in the news, I see that the Obamas went to St. John's, Episcopal, for Easter Morning worship. The are taking their time picking a permanent church home in D.C., but I'm glad that St. John's is considered a fine "safety church" for them to attend when they can't think of anywhere better! Actually, there have been a number of news stories (including on the Daily Show) about the competition between various churches in D.C. Several of the churches in contention have had their pastors vetted by Obama's people, no doubt fearful of another Rev'd Wright situation! It seems the President likes to take his time with decisions that aren't time critical. But at least he's finally found a dog!

And then there was the rescue of the Maersk Alabama Captain... Wow. Imagine the skill required to shoot from a moving ship to a moving lifeboat and then the exponential difficulty of determining when all three pirates were vulnerable and then simultaneously shooting all of them. Don't mess with the Seals. I actually met a SEAL once, dude was short but tough as nails. As part of his daily workout he would tow a rubber boat behind him as he swam in the Potomac.

Other news... Everyone seems to have wonderful Easter Celebrations. I'm still elated about how well things went at Messiah this week. I'm so proud of my congregation and love them dearly. They are a fantastic group of people and I'm so happy that we beginning to harvest some fruit from the last year of work!

-t

Koi?

Since moving into my office at the Church of The Messiah I have been fantasizing about getting a small aquarium for some goldfish. I think ideally my office should have lots of living things like plants and goldfish (alongside icons, books, and lots of candles, of course). I've been too busy to really invest any time in getting actual fish, but now I'm starting to think the time is right. Some goldfish would really be great.

So I was reading online about how to set up a basic, low-maintenance aquarium and was reminded of a fish that one of my sister's ex-boyfriends had: koi. Koi are Japanese carp specially bred to grow to large sizes and display bright colors and interesting patterns. Leave it to the Japanese to take this hobby to the highest level of refinement possible--prize-winning koi can sell for thousands of dollars. Of course, if I do get some koi for my aquarium they will the be the cheapies (only $10 or $12 per fish). What's cool about koi is that they can potentially live a very long time one famous fish, Hanako, lived to be 226 years old (an age verified by an analysis of her scales). They are also smart enough to recognize their feeders and to be taught some simple tricks.

Anyway, it's a thought I'm having. I've noticed that you can get inexpensive used aquariums on Craigslist. I'd have to learn a lot about maintaining it, but I can't think it's too bad. We'll see!

-t

Ash Wednesday

Well, ready-or-not here is Ash Wednesday. I'm feeling like I've mostly caught up on the stuff that piled up last week, but that's only because I worked like a fiend yesterday and today. But I did manage to get many things done.

For one thing, the Healing Prayer Service I've planned for Saturdays in Lent is a "go." I've made up a flier and I have a draft of a banner to hang outside. We'll see if anybody shows up. Maybe, maybe not. But we'll run it for a few weeks and see what happens.

Second, I finally went down to Long and McQuaid (or "Loud and McNasty" as one friend calls it). They are the place to go in Toronto for sound equipment. I went down there to swap the loner sound board we were using for the one we own that was being repaired. Apparently ever since Mackie moved their manufacturing to China they've been having a lot of problems with quality control. So much so that it's ruining the Mackie brand name. When I mentioned this to one the salesman at L&M he got really upset and went into a huge rant about how much he hates stuff made in china and how exporting manufacturing has ruined our economy and poisoned our children. Poor guy--he really cares about where his stuff is made.

While I was there I also picked up a new wireless hand-held microphone that we can use at the lectern--some of our readers aren't as loud as others. I came back to church and wired this stuff up no problem.

Next, I stopped by Fed Ex / Kinkos to mail something overseas and see about getting a vinyl banner printed up to advertise the healing service. I discovered that it would be much easier for me to simply make the PDF myself and bring it to the location with the vinyl printing equipment.

So back at church I was dusting off my copy of InDesign and drafting up sign and poster designs. In the back ground I've been answering e-mails and phone calls as well. Interesting way to spend Ash Wednesday.

Now I think I'm going to start shifting into worship-prep mode. We'll probably only have about 40 people, but these are deep, prayerful people. Time to start moving into that spiritual space.

Incidentally, I did post today on the Mission Church Toronto blog about the Jeremiah Project (New Monasticism). These folks are creating a Neo-Monastic movement right here in Toronto--very cool.

-t

Body Dragged 20 Miles through New York

Some poor guy was hit by one car and then a van and dragged by the second vehicle nearly 20 miles through New York.

At 7:05 a.m. in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, the driver of a red van noticed a pedestrian trying to flag him down, yelling that he was dragging something. He pulled over and made a gruesome find: The body of a man — hooked through his sternum — was affixed to a steel plate that was part of the van’s undercarriage.

The man had apparently been hit by the first car and then dragged by the second one through major arteries of Queens and Brooklyn: the Long Island Expressway, the Grand Central Parkway, the Van Wyck Expressway, the Belt Parkway and Ocean Parkway. (source)

Is that not really messed up?

-t

long-day, short-post

Long-day equals short post. I started it with some shovelling (heavy snow falling all day up here in Toronto). Then I had a very nice Contemplative Eucharist with the regulars for that service. I got started on my Column for the March Anglican (having spent much of yesterday writing down dead-ends), but was interrupted by a deanery meeting. The bishop was there, but honestly it was hard to focus with lots to do back at COTM. One of the more interesting things I learned was from a Postulant looking to start a moms' fellowship group in a church northwest of here: apparently there is a mom's group in my area so popular in has a waiting list. My informant was confident that another group formed at COTM would grow quickly. The issue, she told me, is making sure there are strong connections between the church and the group. That means putting discipleship as a core value from early on. Otherwise it might as well be at the YMCA for all the parent's care. Good to know!

Anyway, got the column done. I'm pleased with the results, I'll post it here when it gets published. Now I'm going to rush off to the gym to get a workout in before supper.

-t

Back to Work

I was really kind of "off" on Sunday. Not sure why, but I was just not as sharp as I normally am. I ended up making a lot of stupid, small mistakes. I even caused an accident at home that could have ended badly for us (but didn't thank God). Again, I can't isolate the reason--I had plenty of sleep the night before and wasn't feeling ill. I do notice that my "sharpness" tends to ebb and flow, probably according to a cycle that could be charted. There in an entire scientific area of study known as Chronobiology that studies the cycles inherit in living creatures. Usually these correspond to solar or lunar factors.

Anyway, I'm hoping that today will be a better day. I have an staff meeting today as well as an article to write for the Anglican.

-t

Lidocaine

An odd day that started normally enough with the Contemplative Eucharist here at COTM. I had time afterwards to clean up and answer some e-mails and blog a bit before rushing off to a Dentist appointment.

This was a follow up from a week or so ago. They wanted me back to fill some small cavities and clean up some old bonding work. I really like Dr. Brown and his office. No waiting, even though they were busy. Friendly staff. Good banter. Modern, pristine office. Efficient and high-quality work. And, perhaps most importantly for dentists, superb pain management.

After rubbing a topical anaesthetic of some sort on my gums they began injecting something (perhaps Lidocaine) into the gums to deaden the nerves before drilling. Here is where things got interesting. The (attractive female) Dental Assistant began massaging my left earlobe. "I'm just going to distract you from what what Dr. Brown is doing," she explained. I immediately understood, I've seen similar techniques used with children in the hospital. So I decided to relax by entering into a mode of being attentive to my body. Having meditating a few hours helped.

I noticed several things going on at once. First, the earlobe trick works on several levels. On a purely neurological level, it's true that giving my system more than one novel sensory input at a time caused my attentions to be divided and lessened my perception of the injections. On a psychological level, the earlobe massage was also both novel and soothing, so it worked that way as well. There was a moment when I was thinking, "Really? You're going to do that while he sticks needles in my gums? Hmm. Okay..." Anyway, I didn't feel a thing.

Dr. Brown drilled out the cavities and then one of his people went to work filling in the holes and also cleaning up the bonding work. When they were done I was pleasantly surprised by the difference they made. The bonding is imperceivable. In fact, my teeth look whiter than before. Well worth putting up with a little earlobe massage.

After the dentist it was off to lunch with a parishioner. Thai food at a place on Yonge: Mint. I enjoyed a Thai Ice Tea thankful that the Lidocaine had worn off.

After that I hit the gym for a sold hour of weights and cardio. Interesting how even just a few gym sessions makes a perceptible difference in how I feel.

Now I'm just finishing up my day at church. And a good day it was!

-t

What made me excited about today.

Finished my column for the Anglican. Looks good. Glad to get that out the door and on-time.

Lately the energy has seemed low around COTM. I've been blaming the Christmas-rush, but actually I'm not sure what the reason, but I was really pleased today to feel myself getting very excited about some new stuff we are planning.

For instance, our confirmation prep programme is looking awesome! I'm really excited about what we've come up with. We are recycling some stuff from Heather McCance and then adding a bunch of stuff that makes it our own. It's going to be great!

We came up with some other ideas in our staff meeting that are really wonderful and organic and I think truly responsive to where people are. More about that later.

Now It's a Principle Feast day (Epiphany) so I managed to get myself invited to celebrate Mass at Trinity. I love celebrating seminary Eucharists!

BTW, I had an eye exam today. My Intraocular Pressure was on the high side, so I've got a referral to another doctor to make sure I'm not at risk for developing early-onset glaucoma. Just another reminder that I'm past the age where I can take my health for granted.

-t

Happy People Don't Watch TV

From the NY Times comes this thought provoker:

Although people who describe themselves as happy enjoy watching television, it turns out to be the single activity they engage in less often than unhappy people, said John Robinson, a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland and the author of the study, which appeared in the journal Social Indicators Research. ...

“We looked at 8 to 10 activities that happy people engage in, and for each one, the people who did the activities more — visiting others, going to church, all those things — were more happy,” Dr. Robinson said. “TV was the one activity that showed a negative relationship. Unhappy people did it more, and happy people did it less.”

But the researchers could not tell whether unhappy people watch more television or whether being glued to the set is what makes people unhappy. “I don’t know that turning off the TV will make you more happy,” Dr. Robinson said. (source)

I would be curious whether the same holds true for playing video games...

-t

Service Dogs for War Vets

Here is a really neat article in the New York Times about service dogs helping vets disabled in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. From the article:

“These soldiers are a very young population; they do not want canes or crutches,” said Mr. Naranjo, who is also a specialist in the Army Reserve.

Many veterans, after suffering traumatic injuries, are “fighting to get their independence back, and dogs give them a sense of independence,” he added.

Service dogs are 24/7 companions that can retrieve and carry objects, open doors, call attention to safety hazards, help with stress and balance difficulties, and provide a bridge back to society. “Veterans can feel vulnerable walking around with these disabilities,” Mr. Naranjo said. “When they go out with a service dog, it draws attention away from the injury.” (source)

Amazing how intuitively our animal friends can adapt to our needs...

-t

Salvia

"Magic Mint" aka "Salvia Divinorum"
According to the NYT, there is a new drug rapidly gaining popularity in the U.S. and Canada: Salvia divinorum (literally: "Sage of the Seers." It's a plant in the mint family that has long been used by Latin American shamans to produce a hallucinogenic affect. It's much more potent than LSD--in terms of the amount necessary to create an affect--but it also wears off much faster. A typical high only lasts a few minutes.

Interestingly, no studies have documented any harmful effects from Salvia, which is probably why it is still legal federally and in most states. (But the jury is still out on long-term effects.) It is cheap and plentiful over the Internet for the time being. But a recent string of goofy You Tube videos of users clearly high out of their minds has prompted legislative action. Law makers are raising the concern that recreational use of Salvia could lead to other drugs or impair driving. Even proponents of the drug's use recommend a "sober sitter" to watch over the tripping.

People who take Salvia report brief, intense mystical experiences that are solitary and contemplative in nature. According to DEA, it's too introspective to make much of a party drug, but it is nonetheless popular among young thrill seekers.

The problem with banning the drug completely is that it makes research difficult, and many scientists believe Salvia could open the doors to entire classes of psychiatric medication:

Though Salvinorin A, because of its debilitating effects, is unlikely to become a pharmaceutical agent itself, its chemistry may enable the discovery of valuable derivatives. “If we can find a drug that blocks salvia’s effects, there’s good evidence it could treat brain disorders including depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, maybe even H.I.V.,” Dr. Roth said. ...

“We have this incredible new compound, the first in its class; it absolutely has potential medical use, and here we’re talking about throttling it because some people get intoxicated on it,” said Dr. John Mendelson, a pharmacologist at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute who, with federal financing, is studying salvia’s impact on humans. “It couldn’t be more foolish from a business point of view.”(source)

From a botany point of view, it's a noteworthy example of a "cultigen"--a species of plant resulting from human intervention. The ancients biogenetically engineered this plant to be a potent source of this drug. (As an aside, Bananas are also a cultigen.)

I've never tried LSD or anything like it, but I would be curious to go on a shaman-supervised vision quest someday. Perhaps like Kabbalah it's something to be explored only after one has a lifetime of experience in order to be properly grounded. Safety first!

-t

Birthday Aftermath

The birthday dinner was great. The lobster, which I got from that fish place in Scrivener Square, was unusually tender and succulent for an inland find. But I suspect this store turns them over frequently enough. I went to the LCBO next door with a gift card someone gave me that was quickly converted into bubbly. Champagne, I find, is great with nearly anything, but especially with lobster or pizza. Our neighbors brought over some dessert, not even knowing it was my birthday, so that was perfect.

The next day I worked some and then took Betsy to the airport to go to Belfast. I have word that she arrived safe and sound. We plan to talk with Skype while she's away.

I pooled together some of the gift money given me for my birthday to buy a Playstation 3. Needless to say, since Betsy's been gone I've been spending many hours driving around the streets of Liberty City. The world of Grand Theft Auto IV is incredibly elaborate--besides being able to drive around, of course, you can also take a Taxi or even use the city subway! Although I've playing for hours, I've barely explored beyond the game's version of Brooklyn. The storyline is interesting and the character well-written--no wonder this game has gotten record-breaking reviews.

No wonder that my sermon for today was about the importance of play in the spiritual life. I think most North American adults probably play too little.

-t

Momentum

Momentum is over for me. The last hurrah was a good one. Lots of good laughs and some interesting final sessions about leadership. One of these was a presentation by The Rev'd Judy Paulsen--she promised to send me her Powerpoint show to post here when I get the chance.

Work has been busy and stressful. Missing two days means stuff piles up (including blogging stuff). But I'm not going to stay late on a Friday night to do that kind of Administrative stuff. I am, however, going to have a nice full riding my desk tomorrow. Tonight we are going over a friend's place for dinner. It will be nice to be pampered for a while.

-t

Craziness

Very, very busy day. Trad Com (BCP Communion), then fellowship lunch. Then I had barely an hour to return a bunch of phone calls before our staff meeting. The meeting went very well. Lots of good discussion as we covered a lot of ground and made some good-feeling decisions about a variety of matters. Amazing how much goes into running a place like this. For instance, we are still struggling to deal with the trash. Toronto Waste Services keeps missing the pick-up, for some reason. The "Trash Inspectors" (think police internal investigations but for trash) are trying to figure out why we keep getting missed. We also have yet to source a good, rugged trash receptacle for outside. The rats (yes, rats) ate through what we had out in the alley before--so we need something super tough.

We had to end the staff meeting when Susy Bleasby arrived to plan some more details of this summer's mural project. It's going to be intense. As I'll be away for much of it, good planning will be critical. I'm also thinking that I may need a designated "project manager" on the church side of things to coordinate the various things that need to mesh together. I should pray for God to give me a volunteer keen to do property management!

Again, I barely had an hour to do some e-mail and phone calls before the happy couple arrived to do marriage prep. Now it's 7:30 and I'm tired and looking forward to going home.

Tomorrow and the next day I'll be at a Momentum retreat, so don't expect a post. It's my "graduation" from the program--so a very bitter sweet moment in my professional career. Consider that I've shared deeply with these friends for the first three years of my call to Canada.

-t