Archive for September, 2007

Sunday, September 30th, 2007

Social Bookmarking

I have mostly ignored the hype around facebook and myspace, but those sites, as well as sites like digg.com, reddit.com, and del.icio.us (which are called “social bookmarking” sites, I have gathered), have reached incredible popularity.
I have joined del.icio.us and digg.com and have been trying them out to see whether they are useful to me.
One note [...]

4 Comments » - Posted in Technical by Devman

Thursday, September 27th, 2007

Masculine Spirituality

I just listened to a talk given by Father Phillip Chavez, S.O.L.T. on the need for true masculine spirituality in the Church and world today.
S.O.L.T. stands for Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, and the most famous priest from that community is Father Corapi.
Fr. Chavez is tough, and he doesn’t pull his [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Masculine Spirituality by Devman

Wednesday, September 26th, 2007

Crescendo’s Hyper-kinetic Chicken

I’ve been working on the graphics a bit with Crescendo, but before you get your hopes up that the graphics are looking better than just plain colored rectangles, let me disillusion you with this screenshot from the game:

What are those white looking things all bunched up together, you might ask? Well, of course, I [...]

1 Comment » - Posted in Technical by Devman

Sunday, September 23rd, 2007

Iranian President: A Hardliner Speaking the Truth?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, seems to me to be a man of contradictions:
On the one hand, he wants to lay a wreath at the memorial site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
But on the other hand, he had declared that the attacks were an inside job carried out by the U.S. government, and he was [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Politics by Devman

Sunday, September 23rd, 2007

Backyard Barnyard Update (including Egg Report)

Well our backyard barnyard is continuing to take shape.
Katie and I have been wanting to plant our Fall garden, but the newest residents at Pointe 1-7 Acres, named Gertrude, Lobelia, and Eunice, have taken a particular shining toward our garden plot, so much so that we feared planting any seeds would result in their swift [...]

1 Comment » - Posted in Grapevines and Nature by Devman

Friday, September 21st, 2007

Planned Parenthood: Deception and Greed

You can watch the news video here on Youtube covering the fraud that Planned Parenthood committed to bring an abortion mega-clinic to Aurora.
They received $305 million in your tax dollars last year, and made $60 million in profit–this is for an organization that is supposedly not run as a for-profit corporation.
They cover up statutory rape, [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Catholic Life by Devman

Friday, September 21st, 2007

Are Men and Women the Same?

I don’t think so.
Neither does J. Budziszewski:
[Student:] “Well, at first I thought you were only saying that there’s a difference in typical male and female qualities. Then I thought you were saying that there’s a difference in what men and women typically do. Then I thought you were saying that there’s [...]

1 Comment » - Posted in Catholic Life, Love and War by Devman

Thursday, September 20th, 2007

The Splendor of Love

Katie and I recently felt called to leave our parish and join a new parish.  It was a tough decision because I had made many friends at my old parish, and both Katie and I were involved significantly with ministry, in particular Perpetual Adoration.
The good news is, we still go to our old parish frequently [...]

3 Comments » - Posted in Theology of the Body by Devman

Wednesday, September 19th, 2007

Walk On

“And love,
is not the easy thing,
the only baggage,
that you can bring,
love,
is not the easy thing,
the only baggage,
that you can bring is all that you can’t leave behind…”
-U2, “Walk On”
I just have to make a short blog post to say, it’s hard to love some people, but these are the people that Jesus most wants us [...]

No Comments » - Posted in La Musica by Devman

Tuesday, September 18th, 2007

Going National!

My brilliant and gorgeous husband is quoted in the front page article of this week’s National Catholic Register! 
Of the many men who have found their wives through Catholic Internet singles’ sites, Devin was interviewed for the article on Catholic online dating.  I’m so proud of you, Devin, and think that you sound really smart, which is [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Catholic Life, Love and War by Katie

Tuesday, September 18th, 2007

Barnyard Day at Pointe One-Seven Acres

Pointe One-Seven Acres. Doesn’t that sound hoity-toity? It’s the glorified name for our Rose estate, which is exactly .17 acres.
We hosted five young homeschoolers in our backyard barnyard last Friday, where they learned about gathering freshly lain chicken eggs, feeding said chickens, petting said chickens, watering the garden, and the wearing of beekeeping [...]

1 Comment » - Posted in Catholic Life, Grapevines and Nature by Katie

Monday, September 17th, 2007

Crescendo Returns (Again)!

My real-time strategy game, code-named Crescendo, had been put on the backburner throughout all of my first year of marriage to Katie.
I have no regrets about this, but I am excited to announce that I am working on it again!  In the screenshot below, you can see that there is a small yellow square near [...]

4 Comments » - Posted in Technical by Devman

Monday, September 17th, 2007

Is Christianity All in Our Heads?

Jen at Et Tu posts her response to the accusation that I’ve had made against me before: Your faith is all in your head, and the effects of it that you experience, whether joy or happiness or peace, are all a placebo, conjured up by chemicals in your brain because you want to believe in [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Catholic Life by Devman

Saturday, September 15th, 2007

Egg Report #4

59 eggs, $4.30 per egg!

No Comments » - Posted in Grapevines and Nature by Devman

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

We Are in Your Base…

…killing your dudes.

I apologize to all of our Vanguard readers who may have no idea what this picture and caption mean or why it is hilariously funny.
I will try to briefly explain it, but I will fail to communicate the humor most likely.
There is a genre of computer (video) game called “real-time strategy” or RTS. [...]

2 Comments » - Posted in Technical by Devman

Tuesday, September 11th, 2007

Texas A&M Ranked #1 University in the Country

What? Is it a joke?
Nope! Check out Washington Monthly’s Third Annual College Rankings and read the article explaining why they named A&M #1 among national public and private universities.
From the article:
Princeton, number one on the U.S. News [and World Report] list, comes in seventy-eighth on ours. Texas A&M, rated sixtieth by U.S. News, is [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Catholic Life by Devman

Sunday, September 9th, 2007

Egg Report #3

All three chickens are now laying; however, Gertrude, who just started, and Lobelia, the middle one in the pecking order, laid about every other day this week.
Total eggs obtained: 44
Total chicken cost: $254
Cost per egg: $5.78
Today my dad and step-mom came over and Katie made Dutch-babies using only our chickens’ eggs. They turned out [...]

2 Comments » - Posted in Grapevines and Nature by Devman

Saturday, September 8th, 2007

Alternative Building Blog

I’ve been reading a blog called Alternative Building that was started up just recently.
David Lee is the author and has ideas about college, home-building and -buying, and living that are quite different from the norm.
I have a goal to one day build my own house, preferably saving a lot of money in the process and [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Grapevines and Nature by Devman

Saturday, September 8th, 2007

Tequila Rose

If you should see a certain Honda parked at the liquor store on a Saturday afternoon, don’t be alarmed.  And, if you should see a certain gorgeous man leaving the liquor store carrying $50 worth of alcohol, don’t be alarmed.
It’s just my husband practicing his new hobby–fine margaritas.

1 Comment » - Posted in Catholic Life, Grapevines and Nature, Saints and Angels by Katie

Thursday, September 6th, 2007

Senator Brownback at the Republican Debate

Since we don’t have television except for watching DVDs (and–gasp!–some VHS movies we still have), I didn’t see the Republican debate last night, but I receive email updates from Senator Sam Brownback’s campaign.
He recapped the highlights of what he said last night which explain his positions on many of the most important matters:
Durham, NH- United [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Catholic Life by Devman

Wednesday, September 5th, 2007

Two Ways to Make a Million Dollars

Have 1 million people give you a dollar each.
Or 100,000 give 10 dollars.
And so on. 

2 Comments » - Posted in Catholic Life by Devman

Tuesday, September 4th, 2007

Boromir’s Redemption

Katie and I are reading The Lord of the Rings together, and we have finished the Fellowship and are now on The Two Towers.
Last night, we were reading the chapter entitled, “The White Rider”, and came across this really cool passage about Boromir, who, as you may recall, fell to the Ring’s temptation to power [...]

2 Comments » - Posted in Catholic Life by Devman

Monday, September 3rd, 2007

The Coop at Turtleback Lane

Now operating at full capacity. 
Our late-bloomer chicken, Gertrude, started laying eggs today!  She went up and sat in the henhouse for a while in the morning, but laid no egg, then later on in the day I went out to check on them, and there was an egg sitting on the ground inside [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Grapevines and Nature by Devman

Monday, September 3rd, 2007

Our God-son Is Baptized!

James Hebert was baptized yesterday morning!  Katie and I are honored to be the God-parents:

No Comments » - Posted in Love and War by Devman

Sunday, September 2nd, 2007

My Answers to James White’s 10 Questions

There is a well-known Protestant Christian apologist named James White who made a list of 10 questions that any Protestant should ask themselves before converting to the Catholic Church.
Well, I converted 6 years ago before he made this list, but I will answer them now, as honestly as I can remember. I hope they [...]

1 Comment » - Posted in Catholic Life by Devman

Saturday, September 1st, 2007

Chicken Scratch

Here’s a video I took today of our chickens digging through thick grass to get at some “scratch” that I put out for them.
Scratch is a mixture of grains that is like candy for them.

WPvideo 1.10

Egg Report: 26 eggs produced so far, average cost now at $9.25 per egg.

No Comments » - Posted in Grapevines and Nature by Devman

Saturday, September 1st, 2007

Pure Fashion in the Austin American Statesman

The Austin American Statesman ran an editorial in the Sunday paper, 8/26, casting a negative light on the “modesty movement” and Pure Fashion. So, I whipped up a sassy reply, ran it past the proper approval checkpoints, and e-mailed it to the Statesman. Who knows whether they’ll print it, so here’s my little letter, so [...]

No Comments » - Posted in Catholic Life, Love and War by Katie