Settled in at the Ranch

Since I'm facing the prospect of typing into an Excel spreadsheet a whole slew of names of people to invite to vows, I figured I'd employ a slight dilatory tactic and update my blog.

This has been a surprisingly full week. After our return on Tuesday, I went to see the absolutely horrible "American Haunting" which one novice aptly described as a glorified Lifetime flick. On Wednesday I went to see the Cavs play at a local watering hole. On Thursday I prepared a steak dinner for the Tertians who were staying here at Loyola House. (Note: Tertians are not extraterrestrial beings who've landed at Loyola House in search of a steak dinner. They are, in fact, Jesuits in their final stage of formation and the "tertian year" is basically a third year of novitiate. Soon these men will be called to make "Final Vows" and then they'll be fully incorporated into the Society of Jesus.)

Yesterday I went to see Ford's Rouge Plant located in Dearborn. In light of this experience, I can aver that I've been born anew. Not only did I get to see them make the F-150, but I also learned "The Truth About Trucks" and I'm finding that I'm quite able to apply my new-found knowledge (to my delight and the chagrin of those around me) while I'm in various parking lots. Last night we went to Benni Hanna Japanese restaurant and then popped over to Dave & Buster's where we watched the Cavs lose.

Today I went to the University of Detroit-Mercy (where I hold emeritus status as a professor of adding and subtracting and, so I've heard, one of my prominent students is going to donate $50 to endow a chair of "fraction studies" in my honor) and watched the University of Detroit Jesuit High School Freshmen Baseball Team (Dang that's a mouthful!) play the first part of a double-header. They won the first game, I stood in the sun for twenty minutes and got burned, and Adam and I were able to support Drew as he coached his players to victory.

Another word about the Fleadh: I'm very happy still for the success of my students. The Fleadh is akin to any major regional competition that qualifies its winners to participate in a national or world-championship event. Mike and Brian are to be commended for their success if only for the fact that their teacher did his work with them over the phone. Yep - the speaker phone is a wonderful invention and, as awkward as it is, it has been invaluable for keeping me up-to-date on their playing.

Finally, I went to the Apple store to look at a new computer for First Studies. I've settled on an iMac with a built-in iSight camera. These computers are glorious and I suspect that they'll enable me to teach via the internet. Soon the speakerphone will crawl into obsolescence and be supplanted by web cam. Hooray!

Time to go and eat dinner. The first year men are back from their various experiments and I should probably greet them.