Author: Maria Johnson

7 Quickety Quicks! microwave edition

Check out the collection of other 7 Quick Takes Friday posts, hosted at Jennifer Fulwiler’s blog, Conversion Diary. 

–1–

I have so so much to do I’m going to whine and vent  a little here. I honestly can’t remember how long it’s been since I’ve felt pulled in so many directions. This is usually not good for me (ok, it’s probably not good for anybody) and if I let it go unchecked I’ll either check-out or freak-out, and neither will be productive. I’m going to take a little retreat today — scoot down to the monastery or the chapel for a little quiet time. How do you deal with this #firstworld problem?

–2–

I’m going to the CNMC this year in Dallas/Fort Worth! Are you going? Sign up! Quick! Registration is closing today so we can process all the new attendees. If you’re sitting on the fence, jump off and register! I promise you’ll have a great time. And no worries, we will take walk-up registrations on-site.

–3–

Had a nice little visit with Inge who popped in this week on her way to Dallas for the CNMC.

–4–

Enrollment has been a little out of control in a good way. Lots of students have been coming in because of some statewide changes that have impacted the kind of services they can receive at the universities. Overall, I think it’s a good thing for students needing learning support to go to a smaller institution, and it’s certainly a good thing for us, but man has this been a busy week. Nothing like speed-advising to make the day zoom by.

–5–

Last week I posted a link to Brandon Vogt’s website for information about Support a Catholic Speaker Month 2012.  Voting closed yesterday and if you go over there now you’ll see that he has updated the site with the Top 100. You’ll see our delightful host for Quick Takes, Jennifer Fulwiler, on that list! Check it out and sign up to feature one of those speakers on your blog. It’ll help spread the word about all the good news people like you and me are spreading about the Good News.

–6–

So my blood pressure has been a little out of whack for a few weeks. It has a lot to do with #1 and #4 above, and then there’s this:

 

 

and this:

So now I’m doing this:

and this:

–7–

I know there’s a lot of madness going on at this time of year. Many of you are either going back to school or sending your kids back to school. I know a whole bunch of you are actively involved in catechesis in your parishes. Every one of us, though, is certainly facing whatever challenges life throws our way. It’s a lot easier when we have one another for support, and even better when we know to whom we can always turn.

Number 2 pencils!

Does anything say back-to-school like a No. 2 pencil?

I used to give the kids a magic pencil when they had tests.

I found this picture and cracked up. Happy new school year to kiddies, big and small. And here’s wishes for a bottomless coffee cup for the teachers and profs.

C.S. Lewis on friendship

A recent post about books I’ve enjoyed sent me down a course to reclaim time for reading. I ran across this quotation from Lewis which was taken out of context, so I dug around to find it. It’s from The Four Loves, and I’m glad I did because the second half of the quotation, the part that says that friendship is about creation as well as revelation, really resonated with me.

Christ, who said to the disciples “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” can truly say to every group of Christian friends “You have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another.” The Friendship is not a reward for our discrimination and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of all the others. They are no greater than the beauties of a thousand other men; by Friendship God opens our eyes to them. They are, like all beauties, derived from Him, and then, in a good Friendship, increased by Him through the Friendship itself, so that it is His instrument for creating as well as for revealing.

It made me think about how I see new things through my friends, and how old things become new when seen through their eyes. But more than that, it brought home the central truth of friendship…

At this feast it is He who has spread the board and it is He who has chosen the guests. It is He, we may dare to hope, who sometimes does, and always should, preside. Let us not reckon without our Host.

Catholic Weekend #135: World of Giant Creepy Statues

As usual, we cut up, I forget to mute myself when I dissolve into the sillies…and the fine gentlemen on the panel, Jeff, Steve, and Billy, take over like the good guys they are.

Follow the link here to listen.

7 Quick Takes — The Plug a Website Edition

Check out the collection of other 7 Quick Takes Friday posts, hosted at Jennifer Fulwiler’s blog, Conversion Diary. 

–1–

Wow. I haven’t done this in so long that a) I feel incredibly guilty, and b) I kinda forgot what to do. I periodically become a blogging slacker. And then I snap out of it. Or something.

–2–

I’m getting excited about the CNMC this year in Dallas/Fort Worth! Are you going? Sign up! Quick!

–3–

Had two lunch dates with two delightful friends…and a crazy drive-by visit with another one. I’m going to call that a win in the hanging out with girlfriends column. And thank Momma Mary for her hand in all of it.

–4–

Since I’m posting pictures, let me share this one. I’ve been laughing an awful lot lately. Good, deep, loudly joyful laughs, and I like it. It’s the most fun I’ve had in a while, and it feels good. Don’t read anything depressing into it — I think I’ve just been so focused on things and carried around a serious frown of concentration that I’ve forgotten to just let go. As in, let go, and let God. That’s really been the greatest relief of all.

–5–

Brandon Vogt must really have more energy than the Energizer Bunny. Not that I’m comparing him to a bunny or anything, but just in case, he’d probably look cute in a big ole pink bunny costume and pull it off without having to punch anyone in the face.

Also, he’s going to be at the CNMC, and no doubt, a bazillion gazillion other things, too. And blogging. Better and more often than me. Anyway, he’s got a neat thing going on at his blog, encouraging all of us — ALL OF US — to go vote for our favorite Catholic speakers, and then write a blog post about one of them.

It’s a great idea — please go read more about it here and then participate!

–6–

I’m super excited to be running a special series about Learning Support redesign initiatives at my college (and in the technical college system in Georgia) for Pearson Higher Education. The first installment popped up this week —  a little early, but that’s OK. So here’s a shameless plug for that!

–7–

Finally, I thought I’d share just one more picture. It’s my stapler. No, it’s not a red one. It’s a very serviceable charcoal gray stapler that lies flat or straight up, depending on what you like — quite useful on those days when I have a lot of stapling to do. You should know, if you ever aspire to be a college professor, that some days have a lot of stapling.

I’ve had this particular stapler for a few years. Or maybe not — who really keeps track of their office supplies, you know? I’ve had it a long time. That’s good enough.

Anyway, I just now read what’s on the stapler. It says it’s antimicrobial.

What?

Who has a need for an antimicrobial stapler? And what does that mean? Is my little bottle of antibacterial lotion not enough?

So. Many. Questions.

Summer Reading…and it’s still summer!

My summer reading pile is getting smaller. Sortof. I keep adding books to the pile, so it rarely gets smaller than the stack you see above.

The problem is that I have a stack at work, and a stack on the floor next to my night table…and two or three books on my desk at home.

A whole bookshelf at work. And still…I read. And read. And read!

You could say I get paid to read (and you wouldn’t be too terribly off), but I haven’t read everything I want to read. And there’s a whole bunch of stuff that I don’t even know exists and is waiting for me to discover. I know, I’m a nerd that way.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say something a little…well…honest. Interesting people, people that I find interesting, are big readers. I don’t know if that necessarily makes me any more interesting, but there you have it. My friends are big readers. It turns out that some other very interesting people, besides my friends (yes, I think you guys are brilliant) are big readers.

In fact, the Harvard Business Review has an interesting article on the importance of reading to good leadership. I’d venture to say it does more than make good leaders. Reading things that edify us, strengthen our characters, give us vicarious adventures, can make us better people.

I’d say, it can make us better Christians. I’m still working on that.

These are some books that have had a huge impact on me:

In no particular order

1. The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen

2. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

3. A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken

4. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

5. Letters from the Earth by Mark Twain

I’d love to know what books have impacted you! And of course, I’ll take recommendations to add to my pile.

Ack! My back!

I am lumbering around the house looking like a wounded Varactyl.

You must be wondering what that is. Here ya go:

I know, a little overly dramatic. My other choice would be to cover my lower back in Ben Gay. I tried that yesterday. It was not a good choice for a number of reasons I will not go into publicly. Thus, I am back to lumbering around and whining loudly.

And begging for your prayers.