Podcast Episode #6: Lent and Giving Up the iPad 2

Posted on March 8, 2011 by David Ancell

The newest episode of the podcast is available:

Get it here.

Sure, the iPad is a great device, but it’s Lent.  Besides, we haven’t had our iPads a year yet.  I’ve only had mine since Christmas.  It has some great features, and I’d recommend it to anyone who doesn’t already have an iPad.  However, I start this podcast talking about why I don’t want one.  Of course, in a couple of years, I’m sure I’ll want to upgrade.

Along those same lines, I begin talking about misunderstandings around giving up something for Lent.  There is an article on my web page that I reference in case you’d like to read it.

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And Now There Are Three

Posted on March 5, 2011 by David Ancell

It has been so hard to hold our news inside me.  Thankfully, the time to announce has come.  Are you ready?  Well, you probably already figured out from the title that our news is . . . (drum roll please) . . .

Yana and I are expecting our first baby in September!

This baby has already been to Disney, though in utero.  We didn’t know we were expecting at the time.  During our first weekend in January, we went grocery shopping.  Yana noticed that she couldn’t stand the smell of the fish in the seafood department or the sight of the chicken in the meat department.  Then, she noticed she was getting unusually tired.  Well, these symptoms were a little suspicious based on what we know.  The next morning, it was time for a little test.  You can probably guess the results.  Yana wanted to get to the doctor’s office the next morning, but it was closed due to a snowstorm.  Two days later, she got in and confirmed what we already knew.  Four days later, we saw a little one and a little heart beat on ultrasound.

Things have been going well, and we are excited!  Of course, prayers are very much appreciated.

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To the Apple Store

Posted on February 23, 2011 by David Ancell

Last weekend, Yana and I took a trip to Lexington, Kentucky to be at a party for a friend.  It’s kind of ironic that I’d go there just after taking the test to become licensed there (which I passed, by the way), but I digress.  After the party, we went to the mall.  There I found what has to be the best Apple store that I’ve ever seen.  I got to play with quite a lot of stuff there.

Since I’ve been on Verizon, I hadn’t really been interested in the iPhone 4.  Now, with its availability, it may be an option some time in the future.  The retina display really is a sight to see.  The ones in the store have service on them, so I got to send my wife an e-mail from one of them just for fun.  After that, I played with a MacBook Air.  It is a lightning fast device since it has a solid-state drive.  It will be a while before I’m in the market for a laptop, so we’ll see how it evolves.

The best thing, of course, is the 27-inch iMac.  I will be getting one of those before too long (after Lion is released).  The display is beautiful, and it’s lightning fast.  I’ve been doing some high-definition video since getting married, and I want something that will allow me to preserve it in high-definition.

I was not impressed with the Magic Trackpad.  Maybe it is because I’m just not a big fan of trackpads.  It is too hard for me to have precise control. I tried it with Indesign on the demo unit, and it was a little difficult to place an object just where I wanted it.

The new Magic Mouse is something that I have played with off and on, and I have mixed feelings about it.  I currently have the old version of the Magic Mouse.  The new one does not have a scroll wheel that can get clogged up and quit working, but it also lacks the squeeze buttons that I use to call up Expose.  The gesture concept isn’t the best for me because I tend not to memorize stuff, and I hope that Apple won’t get to a point that learning the gestures is necessary to use Mac OS.

It’s hard to believe that, just ten years ago, I would have called the Mac a “Macintrash” computer.  Now, I find that it is faster, handles multitasking better, and is so much less of a headache to maintain.  Let’s just hope that the absence of Steve Jobs doesn’t hurt their creativity.  They need to keep it up.

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Getting Licensed

Posted on February 17, 2011 by David Ancell

My employer has asked me to get licensed to practice pharmacy in Kentucky.  The reason has to do with the way we do business and the way pharmacy is regulated in some states.  I’ll spare you the excruciating details.

Pharmacists have two different tests that they must pass to become licensed.  There is an exam called the NAPLEX, which is the test of general drug knowledge.  As far as I know, it’s used by every state in the United States.  Pharmacists also have to take an exam on pharmacy law.  Most, though not all, states use an exam called the Multistate Jurisprudence Exam (MPJE).

The NAPLEX isn’t much of an issue.  Normally, one can get by with taking it just one time.  After that, one can just use a license by exam as the basis for getting a license in an additional state.  However, the MPJE is another story.  Since laws vary by state, one normally has to take it again for every state in which one desires a license.

I have taken and passed the MPJE for three different states, and today I just took the one for Kentucky (still awaiting the results).  How I have passed it in the past is usually a mystery to me because I could swear that I failed it when I walked out of it.  It’s just a weird test, and sometimes I have a sneakin’ suspicion that they grade it by rolling dice at the NABP office.  We’ll see how this one goes.

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Podcast Episode #5: Spiritual vs Natural Influence

Posted on January 31, 2011 by David Ancell

Episode 5 is now posted.

Download it here.

I got an new iPad for Christmas thanks to my wife and parents.  I have been having a lot of fun with it, and I thought I’d weigh in on the Android vs. iPhone (and also the Microsoft vs. Apple) debate.  I’m a switcher to Macintosh myself and have been since 2006.

I’ve heard a lot about The Rite.  I have not seen it and don’t know if I will, but it did give me inspiration for my little “side note” about demonic influence.

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Chant Cafe

Posted on January 23, 2011 by David Ancell

A number of years ago, my grandmother told me about how she loved the Latin when that was the language of the Mass.  I must confess that I didn’t understand her.  It seemed strange that she wouldn’t be perfectly happy with having the Mass in English.  We gave her a CD of Gregorian Chant one year, and she loved it.  She could tell that I wasn’t so enthusiastic.

Years later, I’ve been to the Extraordinary Form a few times and really enjoy it.  The parish to which we belong has a schola that does chant about once a month, and it is beautiful.  I only wish that I had discovered all of this while my grandmother was still alive.

Thanks to the National Catholic Register, I learned of the Chant Cafe site.  It is well worth reading about the music of the Mass and how things have departed from the original intent of Vatican II.  Until I read it, I did not know what an Introit was or that there was a setting for the antiphons for the Mass.  Then, one day, the schola in my parish was singing it, and I realized that they had been doing this all along.  Ah, yes, this is one more reason why I love the liturgies at Assumption.  By the way, this is a small parish with not a lot of staff.  So, lack of resources isn’t a very good excuse for not having a beautiful Mass.

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Podcast Episode #4: The Pope’s Comments

Posted on December 19, 2010 by David Ancell

The next episode of the podcast is available.  Download it here.

After goofing off a bit, I go into the remarks of the Holy Father on condom use.  By the way, the book, Light of the World, is an excellent book.  I’ve been reading it off and on for the past few weeks.  We often see the Holy Father in the news, but we don’t get to hear his own perspective on the events in a format like this.

See the book at Ignatius Press.

I really this that this has been an especially bad year for irresponsible media reporting on the Church and the Holy Father.  It seems that they have been especially bad about distorting the words of Pope Benedict, and this isn’t the first time they’ve done it.  I’ve given a couple of other examples of how his words have been misused.

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Podcast Episode #3: New Name

Posted on November 11, 2010 by David Ancell

The next episode of the podcast is available.  Download it here.

In this episode, I elaborate a bit on the new name of the blog and podcast and the theme of both.  Then, I talk about what I am reading.  Here are the books . . .

The Temperament God Gave You

The Temperament God Gave Your Spouse

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Eastern Rite

Posted on November 7, 2010 by David Ancell

Last week, I went to my first Eastern Rite Divine Liturgy.  Specifically, it was the Ukrainian Rite, and the principal celebrant was their bishop.  Most of the Mass, including the Scripture reading, was chanted.  I thought the deacon’s voice sounded familiar.  Then, I found out that the deacon and priest live in Raleigh.  We had heard them before at the morning prayer of the Ignited by Truth conference.

The Liturgy felt quite a bit different from what I am used to, but I found the basic parts were still there.  It begins with the signing of Psalm 51 (penitential).  The Scriptures are read.  The Creed and Sanctus are used.  There are also a lot of repeating prayers.  It was a beautiful liturgy that I hope to experience again. However, I really do need to find something to explain the various prayers and hymns.

Oh, and the Liturgy was in English.  Their translation is, in many places, very similar to the new translation coming to our Roman Rite.  It just seems funny to me that people complain about our upcoming translation when the Eastern Church already uses that same kind of language.

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Preventative Care???

Posted on October 31, 2010 by David Ancell

Somehow, I don’t think this one will surprise many people who read my blog, but I received this article entitled Health Overhaul May Bring Free Birth Control from Prolifepharmacy.com on my Facebook.  It came from NPR, but I was hoping that it was actually from The Onion.  Like I said, I’m not surprised that this is on someone’s agenda.  The most telling quote was from Dr. David Grimes at UNC:

Contraception rivals immunization in dollars saved for every dollar invested. Spacing out children allows for optimal pregnancies and optimal child rearing. Contraception is a prototype of preventive medicine.

This guy is an Ob/Gyn.  Does he think pregnancy is an illness?  We might, as a society, save money, but for what purpose.  Fortunately, the USCCB has weighed in on this.  Hopefully, our upcoming election will boot the promoters of this nonsense out of office.

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