Blog update

It is with no little amount of trepidation that I let you know I've decided to move my blogging to a blog hosted on stblogs.com. It allows me to do a few things I've been unable to do on blogger, and it also allows me to help support (even if only in my own very, very small way) a Catholic enterprise. I've copied over all the posts you'll find here just in case anyone really needs to find something I've written before. This blog will remain but will go dormant; you can find my new blog at http://ubipetrus.stblogs.com/.

And yes, I admit that it's entirely possible I'll become like some others that have tried to move off of blogger and have come back, but at least for now I'll move forward with this. I hope to see you there!

I can hear you out there!

Having a very low resistance to gadgetry I've added the Followers gadget to the blog. If you like anything I've written here and are willing to admit it, feel free to add yourself - if you don't want others to know you read this blog you can do so privately even. No prizes for signing up, no bling, no money.

It's what all the cool Catholic blogs are doing

Well, okay, maybe not all. Curt Jester pointed out the new Catholic social bookmarking site PickAFig. No service is perfect when it starts but it looks like they've ironed out a couple of initial bumps so I've added a button for each post. So, if you like something I've written (and I just know you do ... right?) you can submit and/or vote for the post. Let me know if it causes problems; either way, be sure to help out the folks at PickAFig who are trying to help us all talk to each other in new and better ways.

New neighbor in St. Blog's

Jeff Vehige has put together a useful (and I must say very smoothly-designed) new blog at St. Peter Canisius Apostolate. I only want to know one thing: when do these people find time to sleep? Good stuff - if you visit (and you should) let him know from whence you came.

Some minor updates to the template

I've made some minor updates to my template to try to improve the readability of the site a little bit. Everything looks good on my monitor, but please let me know if something's wonky on yours.

Update: Keith tells me it looked squished and I'm guessing he meant on "normal" resolution monitors versus the wide-aspect monitors/laptops I have available to me. I've tweaked the sidebar widths so it shouldn't see quite so squished now. I hope. Let me know otherwise.

I'm not dead yet...

Honest. Just really, really busy. Still.

Pardon the one unclean word at the end. You can't have gone through a computer degree in college and not have seen this movie at least once. Several of my friends could relate the whole movie from beginning to end from memory. Scary, yes...

Apology

I must apologize to my readers for having been so lax this week. I thought for sure after my son's First Communion things would slow down. Apparently God got such a chuckle out of that idea that he decided to show me just how silly it really was. I haven't even had the time to make some of the updates to my sidebars I've been meaning to do for a while now. Ah, some day.

The new digs

So, tell me what you think of the new look for the blog. Seriously, if it rocks, let me know - and likewise, if it sucks rocks let me know. The base template comes from Dummies Guide to Blogger Beta, the Fluid Width Three Column Template. While I haven't checked it out yet, it promises to work well on multiple screen sizes, adjusting to the given dimensions - wasting all that space on the sides always seemed a little silly to me (but then, I'm no graphics design wizard either).

I've only spent a couple of hours tweaking it, but my eyes are already threatening to revolt and find new lids to hide under so I'll have to call it a day. Besides, tomorrow we talk about the Mass, the Creed and get our candidates ready for their first Confession. And we Spring Forward. What a day!

I must also mention that today my son made his First Confession along with around 80 other children. He was scheming right from the moment we got there to make sure he got in line to the confessional with our pastor Fr. Paul. And yeah, he picked the confessional on his own rather than face-to-face in the open; he clearly has his father's tastes. Please do keep him and all those who made their First Confession today in your prayers as they move along their path to receiving our Blessed Lord in the Most Holy Eucharist. We're already stocking up on hankies for that day.

Well now lookie who's here

It seems I've finally guilted my wife into the blogosphere. Okay, I didn't really intend to do it, but sometimes I'm just more effective than I intend to be I guess. My best guess is she'll be blogging mostly about cross-stitch and quilting but one never knows - I started this blog with the intention of writing about a mix of high-tech and my hobbies. You can see just how far that idea got. Anyway, do hop over and say "hi" even if you (like me, still) don't have the first clue about quilting, cross-stitch or anything involving a needle and thread.

The Askesis of Blogging

Say what, you say? Let's just put it this way: Phil's a smart cookie. If everyone in blogdom would read this post and take it as advice it'd be a monumental step forward. Go. Read.

CRCD is back!

Confessions of a Recovering Choir Director has restarted his blog, but it's moving. Always good to see one come back to the blogosphere.

Tags: Catholic, Blogging, Music

See something different?

If you're reading the blog itself versus on a feed reader, you will. Through the great goodness of her heart and her God-given graces, Argent of Argent by the Tiber and Here there are Lions has crafted a new header for me. I don't know about an official Church position on the matter, but for my money her work qualifies as true charity in giving to the needy. Sheesh, I can't even draw a straight line with a ruler most days and she creates this. I am beyond impressed and utterly thankful.

Tags: Blogger, Blogging, Art

A new blog for the list

While catching up on my blog backlog (okay, say that ten times fast!) I was reading through Alive and Young when he pointed to a new blog. Feeling rather adventurous for some unknown reason I followed on over to Astonished, Yet at Home! So far he's done a quite nice job with the blog.

Except for one strange thing. He has a list of "All-Stars of the Catholic Blogosphere" and for some as yet unexplainable reason he has this little ol' blog in it. Okay, I was an All-Star in Little League but somehow I don't think that counts. Clearly the poor chap has been out in the sun too long! You should head on over and offer up prayers that he regains his sanity. Until that happens, however, I'll bask in the thought that there may be those who get something out of all this that I put out. Miracles shall never cease.

Tags: Catholic, Blogging, Blogs

Amy's new digs

In case you hadn't seen, Amy Welborn has moved. Her blog, that is. It is quite funny how many of us in St. Blog's find a certain solace in the consistency we find in certain places - Amy's frequent and thoughtful postings; Gerald's always on-the-spot news, exquisite photography and occasional rant; Dale's peerless fisks; Jeff's comical musings and incomparable turns of phrase ... I could go on and on. Suffice it to say, when something in that changes it's ... weird. And when weird things happen people often get concerned, even when they've never met the person. There's a case study for an aspiring psych student or ten in that, I think.

Suffice it to say, Amy's just fine and has made a sound decision to refocus herself on her writing. The good news is she's still posting her pithy commentary so St. Blog's has not lost her voice. Her calm and cool rationale can be found here. I must say, I'm nearly moved to jealousy at how clean and crisp her new site looks. If only I had an artistic bone in my body...

Tags: Catholic, Blogging

Is it really true?

Leticia relays information that Sitemeter is alleged to have donated $200,000 to Planned Parenthood. Has anyone else heard of this? If it is so, I can only begin to imagine the uproar in St. Blog's as many of us have used their service. If you know of anything, leave it in the combox.

Update: Leticia tells me in the combox that she has received a denial from Sitemeter. As I therein also suggested, proving non-existence is impossible, so for now I'll leave it with a presumption of innocence. But not without a more wary eye.

Tags: Catholic, Abortion, Pro-Life, Blogging, Planned Parenthood

On humility

Humility - something which can be very hard to strive for as a blogger. It would seem at first glance to be at cross-purposes with blogging, where the goal is to communicate to as vast an audience as possible what you believe to be important. Either of those two areas can be pitfalls to humility, either in an inordinate desire for a greater audience or in a selfish belief in the importance of one's views. It is a fine line we tread between hoping to help others in any way we can and delving into self-importance.

In that sense, I'd like to refer all of us to a prayer I originally got from Fr. Daren Zehnle's blog which he posted for an entirely different purpose. The Litany of Humility was originally composed by Servant of God Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (d. 1960):

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved...
From the desire of being extolled...
From the desire of being honored...
From the desire of being praised...
From the desire of being preferred to others...
From the desire of being consulted...
From the desire of being approved...
From the fear of being humiliated...
From the fear of being despised...
From the fear of suffering rebukes...
From the fear of being calumniated...
From the fear of being forgotten...
From the fear of being ridiculed...
From the fear of being wronged...
From the fear of being suspected...

That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I...
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease...
That others may be chosen and I set aside...
That others may be praised and I unnoticed...
That others may be preferred to me in everything...
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should…

It is a prayer, I believe, we need to keep on our lips all the more these days when the exaltation of the self is so widely praised. Deliver me, Jesus.

Tags: Catholic, Blogging, Humility

Trying out feedburner

Okay, I gave in. Now that feedburner feeds are free for everyone, I thought I'd give 'em a whirl. If you're subscribed to the feed, I don't know if it will automatically update or not, but the new feed URL is http://feeds.feedburner.com/UtterMuttering, or you can use the little icons on the side. I don't know if this is a good idea or not, but I suppose I'll soon find out. Let me know what you think.

Tags: Blogging, RSS, Atom

*Sniff*

It appears the Pontificator has hung up his blogging spikes. What a sad development for St. Blog's. I, for my part, am indebted to Fr. Kimel for making me realize just how far one's brain can stretch and still not encompass all beauty and wonder that is the patrimony of the Church. His frequent postings from wide and varied sources renewed my flagging energy in delving further into the Fathers and the whole breadth of available teaching. You will be missed, Pontificator. Ad multos annos!

Howdy y'all

Or, as I'm reminded by my friends from the southern States, "all y'all" (I need to spend some quality time south of the Mason-Dixon just to learn the lingo ... and maybe eat the food!). Mike Aquilina has referred some of you here, so welcome - please do look around. I hope I got all the dirt swept under the carpets in time...

I must offer a public thanks to Mike for his generous compliment for which I am entirely unworthy. He's a great guy, a true gentleman and a fantastic author. Plus, he has the day job I've always wanted, the lucky bugger...

Tags: Catholic, Blogging, Patristics

They've found me!

While perusing my Sitemeter stats the other day, I discovered that I've been found out. It appears someone from the Senate Sergeant at Arms (or, more likely some Senate staffer) has been checking up on me. I'm going to guess it was driven by this post.