Big Day at DEED!!!

Today we had a Cultural Awareness speaker at DEED.

A Somali guy named Haji who was one of the founders of United Cloud.

He gave a pretty boilerplate explanation of saying that Muslims are basically just like Polish immigrants, and that Islam is pretty much just Catholicism and that anyone who says differently is just racist or spreading hate and fear.

I was so tempted so many times to speak up but I never did.

It is so weird because I know I could have, and I have many times in the past.

And I know that part of my reason for not speaking up was just that I still want to keep my job, and if I had told the truth today, there is a good chance that I would no longer have a job.

But more than anything, I just had a really horrible sense of despair.   I looked around the room at all the women I work with, and I looked at their faces.

I know that there are a few women in that room who were smart enough to look into things and think for themselves, but the vast majority of them really just wanted to believe what they were being told.  Not even for being dumb either.  Plenty of them are quite smart and mentally agile, but just don't want to have to think for themselves.

I feel bad because they have the best option already on the table, and most of them have either neglected it or completely abandoned it by choice.

They are like empty vessels just waiting to get filled up, and since they have turned away from truth and love, they are inevitably being filled with hate.

And not only that, but they seem to be excited about it too!!

4-5 MAR 17

This was a good weekend.  Unseasonable warm.  It was in the 40's and even got up to the low 60's.

I spent Saturday going to the gun range and I met a new guy named Richard.  Looks to be in his 50's and is a tall gentleman who seems a little too cultured to be hanging out with the normal gun range crew.

On the other hand, he was a big fan of Smith and Wessons and had a S&W M&P 9 Shield as well as a S&W 642 stainless snub nosed revolver.  He had just bought the snub nose and was doing an admirable job of sighting it in.  Slow shooting, but scoring very good hits and doing it consistently.

I shot the Glock 34 and the Walther PPQ22.  I did better with the 22, but overall I think I am improving.  I certainly need more practice, but I am making strides and having a lot of fun while I do it.

Sunday I went to the late Mass at the Cathedral and since it was the first Sunday of Lent, the place was packed to the gills.

The jeep is still running but making a lot of weird noises and taking a lot to get up to speed.

I posted on Facebook about the Expanse and got a lot of strong recommendations for that TV show.  Lots of people strongly recommended the books as well.

I have continued running every day and am at 5.3 mph.  My lower back is hurting but so far not too bad.  I have been able to control it with stretching and ice packs and ibuprofen.

Unfortunately it looks like Colt is going under again.  There are stories floating around of them doing big lay offs.  They just came out with a cool new revolver, the Colt Cobra, two months ago, but it is not for sale anywhere.

So far Lent is going well.  Reading and praying on a regular basis.   I have been consistently attending CL and we even had that special Mass in the Cathedral two weeks ago.  Two of the gals at CL are pregnant and are having trouble with their pregnancies.

I am really excited to get down to the cities and go shooting with Chad and his new 9E.