Fun new photos

he lighting and staging could be better, but I was having fun.


In the first, it just looks like a loose pair of pants (thanks to serious cinching in the back.) I was sorting clothes to give away and make room in the closet, and thought I'd try one of those "after" photos. That's me below in one leg.

Our New Normal

Izzy announced last week via Ping/Twitter/Facebook/Livejournal that he had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. One of my sisters immediately responded on FB asking when he was planning to tell the rest of his family. He replied that by posting on a social network, he HAD informed folks. (NB, I don't know if Momala and Pop have been called - he's not here right now to ask.)

Unlike Izzy, I confined my announcements/updates to the smaller audience of this blog, back when I was in the pre-diabetes/newly-diagnosed stages. (Samples posts here and here and here.) I was freaking out a bit, and worried about how people would respond. Izzy is, and always has been, much more "out there."

We're known that this was coming for a while based on symptoms, family history, visual changes, etc. During our beach trip last December/January (here and here), Izzy was feeling a bit shaky as we entered a restaurant. After checking my blood sugar, I looked over and said "Your turn." As he later tweeted, he had a reading and a re-check over 200, and a nearly 300 reading 2 hours post-prandially. That's diagnostic. Welcome to the d-life.

His reaction was to skip most of the Kubler-Ross stages, and go pretty much straight to acceptance. Appointments were made, and he was officially diagnosed and given a couple of meters. He has been assessing the effects of his intake on blood sugar readings. Eye and diabetes education/nutrition appointments are pending. I am so grateful that we both have good insurance for meters, test strips, etc. I've had good success in managing this condition and have lab values where they need to be. I'm certain that Izzy will soon have these, as well.

Diabetes is yet another thing we share, like our Catholic faith, tri-lingual puns, Jesus Music oldies, similar motorcycle helmets, and love of Italian food*. We're working on the best ways to lower carbs counts for the latter, even as I look for what will be the perfect low-carb pie/pie crust recipe that does not include an artificial sweeteners (which Izzy really dislikes.)

For better, for worse, in sickness and in health...

*List is not all-inclusive; there's also the cat, Monty Python, the beach in winter ....

Surprised while surfing

Following a tweet from Mattheus, I Googled Jack Chick to read his newest tract:

It was easy enough to find the tract, which tries to synthesize several tomes' worth of anti-Catholic polemic into a few badly drawn pictures and reductio(s) ad absurdum.

The 2nd or 3rd Google link, as is often the case, was a Wikipedia article about Jack Chick. At the top right was a sketch of Chick, done by Jimmy Akin. I meant to click the picture to see when/how it was done, since Chick has been reticent to release pictures of himself. As Providence would have it, I clicked on the Jimmy Akin link, and wound up on his Wikipedia page.

Hmm, since I'm here, guess I'll read a bit. Following anther link, I found myself at this article from This Rock posted on the Catholic Answers site (reprinted from Surprised by Truth.) This is Jimmy's story of his conversation to Catholicism.

After consideration of the Church's claims for some time, a search begun like the searches of so many others in an attempt to refute their veracity, Akin found himself prepared to enter the church in which his wife was raised and to which she had reverted from New Ageism.

Akin writes beautifully, in his early 30's voice, of his version of the deathbed conversion -- his reception into the church at the bedside of his wife, Renee. They received the Eucharist together, for the first and last time, the day before her death from cancer.

Shortly afterward, Renee received her first morphine shot. Then our priest arrived. In private, he gave me the sacrament of confession. Then, in Renee's hospital room, using the emergency, shortened form of the rites, he brought me into the Church. He gave me conditional baptism and then confirmed me. After giving Renee the anointing of the sick, he gave us the Eucharist, which he had brought from the tabernacle in our parish.

My wife and I communicated together for the first and last time, sharing pieces from the same host. Although Renee was able to receive communion the next day, I was not present for that. This was the only time the two of us would share the Lord Jesus in this way.

Because of the morphine injection Renee had received immediately before Fr. Wood arrived, she was very sleepy during my reception into the Church. But she knew what was going on and tried to participate as best she could, such as when she managed to eat a small fragment of the host when we received communion. When my reception into the Catholic Church was completed, I hugged her and told her I was inside the Church. There was a beautiful, peaceful smile on her face--a smile which lasted a long time.

From something inflammatory to something inspirational. Good ending.

How some of us are marking this auspcious day

Having survived the treacherous voyage across the bridge in the snow (I picked what I believe to be the shortest bridge to cross), I arrived at our delayed start workday to find one meeting canceled and another delayed. (yay!)

I made a capuchino in my office using the cap maker Izzy got me for Christmas.  I'm typing this as I wait for the multiple avian influenza response document drafts to print.  

In a few minutes, a group of us will gather in one of the conference rooms to view the inaugural festivities.  It won't be as historic a gathering as the one MM is attending, but we'll be a bit warmer (smile.)  Being the good civil servant that I am, I'll be the one off to the side watching whilst reviewing these plans for the delayed meeting.  Somebody has to continue worrying about avian influenza, and I get to be one of those somebodies.  That's not a complaint -- it's job security, baby!

Prayers go out for the health of those on the Mall, for the safety of all involved, including those sworn to protect us, and for civil discourse among Americans in our areas of disagreement.

May our Blessed Mother, as Patroness of the Americas, intercede for our country and all of its people, including those not yet born.