dc4free#24: airshow

don't get to post much anymore, what w/ all my important sportscenter-watching duties and all, but recently we did get out to a free event @ andrews air force base in md. we took the kids on a train-bus trek to the base to see an airshow featuring the air force thunderbirds and some little plane called the f-22 raptor (the website plays "highway to the danger zone," no kidding). not being a very militaristic guy, i was a bit skeptical about the show, but when we got there i was amazed @ what these planes can do. they're incredibly loud and fast, but what stunned me was that they can almost stop in mid-air (i'm sure they're still flying hundreds of miles per hour, but the effect is that they appear to practically hover). i had no idea.

the kids had a great time (they probably enjoyed riding the metro as much as anything), and paddy literally vibrated when the planes would buzz us. all in all, a nice saturday.

my own private rabid squirrel

like my friend, amy, i had a run-in w/ a dc rodent today. the windows of my basement office open @ street level, and they're up today b/c it's hot as 900 hells in here. while typing on my laptop a few minutes ago, i looked up to see a squirrel had come in the window and was peering @ me from the sill. scared the bejeezus out of me.

note to self: make more substantive posts in future. people probably don't care about my encounters of the furry (albeit menacing) kind.

veronese's feast

this post is a note to self, so feel free to disregard:

fr. davenport hinged his sermon yesterday (eventually it'll be posted here) on paulo veronese's feast in the house of levi, the artist's interpretation of the last supper but w/ its title changed under pressure from the church. a line from the sermon, one i wish i'd written, follows:

veronese’s interrogators didn’t get it. frequently, we don’t either. the faith doesn’t need to be protected. the faith needs to be lived. not only should buffoons be in veronese’s last supper, but jesus could be kneeling at their feet. (emphasis mine)

orthodoxy and orthopraxy go together. they have to. what i do today may be far more consequential than what i believe (although what i believe will certainly flower into what i do). i'm just saying.

derby day