Wings at the Airport

Another airport...Winnipeg this time...and I'm in a restaurant eating wings and drinking beer. It's a bit of a ritual with me when I travel...I LIKE wings (not too soupy, hot, battered) and I LIKE beer (a dark ale, preferably with a creamy head and lingering well rounded not too bitter aftertaste). The Winnipeg airport is doing well...the wings are better than average and a local ale (Fort Gary Dark) is excellent.

It is also a chance for me to reconnect with the electronic world after three days at a convent, albeit at an exorbitant price (Telus Hot Spot, $15.00 per day). 200 plus e-mails. A number of offers to "enlarge my member," "buy this stock which is about to go big," "take our latest survey -- all you have to do is supply your e-mail address" (as if), and "get laid tonight" (that's rather presumptuous, don't you think?). Amongst the junk were some diocesan notices that I should read, some meeting notices that I had to read, a couple of e-mail lists that I like to read, and some notes from friends that I was glad to read, more often than not because they required no response from me, but pointed me towards something they found amusing or relevant.

I think God gets a lot of p-mail (prayer-mail). A lot of it is junk, even more is self-serving drivel, too much is irrelevant, extravagant or extorting, and there are probably a few truly important bits that God takes seriously or mabe even finds amusing. I hope God has an up-to-date set of divine Norton's to filter out the spam! If God has to deal with all this stuff unaided (hey...that would be a good use for the cancelled angel of the "Touched by an Angel" TV show...or maybe Michael Landon...do you remember THAT show?), I do not envy God.

And I DO wonder if God has time for wings and beer?

Today's weigh-in: 227 lbs. Too many wings.

The Bully Has A Black Eye

While at a training event over the weekend, we were chatting about Hurricane Katrina. There was a profound acknowledgement of the suffering of those who wouldn't, or more likely couldn't, flee the city in anticipation of the storm. Aside from the fury of the storm itself, there will be abundant blame to go around. Personally, I am prepared to lay much of the consequential blame with the government -- a compelling argument published in The Independent (a British journal) makes the case that the budget priorities that support the military action in Iraq and the subsuming of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) into the Department of Homeland Security are largely responsible for the neglect of the infrastructure which might have saved New Orleans (http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article310195.ece).

Nine months ago we were generous in offering relief to the victims of the Tsunami in southeast Asia. Now, however, it must be asked if we will be as generous to those who are suffering as a result of Katrina? I suspect that there is a certain smugness in viewing the United States as the bully of the world, who now has a black eye...they have made their bed, now sleep in it...or if you burn your ass, you've got to sit on the blister. All this is undoubtedly true, and we will all be paying at some level as fuel and produce prices rise.

But for this dog at the table, much in all as I would like to be smug, I've already made a contribution for hurricane relief -- it was at a wedding yesterday where the bride and groom would kiss in return for a charitable donation, and since I said the grace at the meal, I had the first opportunity to make a donation ($20.00 if you need to match it) and while the kiss was hardly worth it, the good feeling was.

I'm prepared to lay blame for the scope of the catastrophe at the feet of the American administration, but that doesn't relieve me of the responsibility to care for others who are suffering.

Today's weigh-in: 225 lbs. (I can accept the blame for that)