nunblog

The book display and St. Paul talk in Davenport went well. The parish there, St. Paul's, is celebrating its centenary this year. Sadly, the parish and school was vandalized a few weeks ago: the first-floor windows of one of the school buildings are are boarded up, and the church's exterior light fixtures and a stained glass window were also broken. One of the local religious communities, the Sisters of Humility, held a prayer service there (and a simultaneous one at their motherhouse for the sisters who were too infirm to come): it's something they do now wherever there has been an act of violence in the area. Sr. Laura and I stayed with these sisters and were really impressed with their continued engagement in mission, even when so many of the sisters are really quite elderly. There was a real spirit of ministry in their house; just this weekend they took on a new service, running a shelter that another organization was pulling away from.
My USB hub died last week and I picked up a cheap replacement at Office Depot. This replacement was so cheap it didn't even come with a power cord! I got it anyway, because I thought my old power adapter would fit (same output), but no. So now I have two non-functioning USB hubs, and lots of USB devices. (Maybe I can find the right adapter in a closet somewhere, or in the basement computer graveyard.) (Any other ideas?) I had another tech problem in Davenport--rather, in the car trip there. Before leaving, I remembered to bring some AAA batteries with me for the many gadgets I use. If only I had realized that the pack of batteries were the rechargeable kind. (No recharger among the gadgets.) Then, setting up the projector for my talk, I couldn't get the wireless mouse to communicate dependably with the computer. I strained to pull the computer as close to the lecturn as possible, but the monitor cable didn't allow it to come close enough. Then the pastor raided his technology closet and came out with a twenty-foot 7-pin cable that solved the problem. (Note to self: find twenty-foot, 7-pin cable for future talks.)

It's lovely outside; maybe I will take a Rosary walk by the lake before heading to Mass.