Posted by Eric (February 10, 2006 at 1:51 pm)
Last Saturday I went mountainbiking for the first time in nine weeks. I don’t think I’ve gone that long without a ride in a couple years. A combination of bad weather (not cold enough), illness, a great deal of work and just plain laziness kept me away for way too long.
The ride confirmed what I already knew, that I’m terribly out of shape. It also reaffirmed my belief that there is no better all-around workout than mountainbiking. Maybe squash, but I don’t play squash. In any case, it’s way more intense than the other sports I do: XC skiing, swimming, running, weight lifting and road biking.
I had been on the road trainer for a couple weeks before venturing out to my usually riding spot, Palos Forest Preserve, but I might as well have been prone in a vat of salt water for two weeks for all the difference it made for my mountainbike conditioning. After about three minutes I was giving serious thought to packing it in; after about six minutes I was just waiting to puke. [Continue reading this entry »]
Posted by Eric (February 6, 2006 at 4:06 pm)
In my last post I remarked:
Now I’m finally writing my first entry. We’ll see if I ever find the time for a second.
Well, here it is February 6, almost exactly seven months later. In the meantime I’ve set up a couple of blogs for other people and gotten to know WordPress a whole lot better. Finally seemed to be time to work on this one again.
I hope it’ll be less than seven months before my next post…
Posted in Technology | Comments Off on A Mere Seven Months Later …
Posted by Eric (July 7, 2005 at 12:00 pm)
I set up this blog a couple of months ago when the world was watching the final days of Pope John Paul II. I’d wanted to start a blog for years but never got around to it. I figured the opportunity to reflect on the life of John Paul and the personal influence he had on me as a young Catholic, an apostate, and finally as a “revert” was a good reason to start blogging. But I didn’t have the time then either.
Now I’m finally writing my first entry. We’ll see if I ever find the time for a second. But the inspiration for this one is the birth of my daughter, Mary Macrina. She is my fifth daughter in a row, after my two boys. We were expecting a boy. I was sure she would be a boy. I was praying for a boy. But God gave me another girl.
She’s adorable. I just spent most of the last hour holding her at the hospital, where her mother, my wife April, is recovering from the unexpected C-section required to deliver her. The honest truth is that I’m disappointed not to have a boy. I’m a little sad that my dream of my two sons—Nate (13) and Sam (11)—getting to play with and mentor a little brother will never be fulfilled; even if we were to have another boy these two would be teens by then.
But I am not disappointed that Mary Macrina is a girl. Does that make sense? I’m delighted that she is who she is—a sweet, adorable, calm, tiny little creature that God in his great mercy has deemed me worth to father.
May God grant her many years!
