Planes, Trains, Bicycles, and a Thesis

It's been a while since I posted much on here aside from homilies and info on the history of Halloween, so I thought an update might be in order. My second-to-last semester here at Kenrick is almost at an end. There is only a week and a half left, and that includes no less than four final exams, a presentation, and a homily. Pray for us. It's a stressful and tiresome time of year.

That being said, we are all rested after returning from Thanksgiving break. For the novelty of it I took the Amtrak trains from St. Louis up to Minneapolis to visit my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. It was good to see them, and my nephew Noah is growing like crazy (he's about 6 months old now). This was my first "real" train ride, and I enjoyed it. If the train works for your travel itinerary, I highly recommend it. It's an enjoyable ride, and it's much less stressful than planes and airports. If you're trapped on a train for 15 hours, you can get a lot of homework done.

Once I plow through these final exams, homilies, papers, and so on, my buddy Jesse and I are going to tackle section 5 (of 7) of the Southern Tier Adventure Cycling route from December 11th-20th (see the map above). We'll fly down to College Station, TX, on the 11th, ride bicycle from there to Baton Rouge, LA, from where we'll fly back home for Christmas. Our bikes are both on the way down there already, and should be waiting for us when we get there. On this trip, I hope to use my Android-based cell phone to provide my location on a map in near-real-time for those who wish to follow our progress. I may also post some pictures and updates from along the route via Twitter. Check back soon to see if I get a tour web page up.

Oh, and one more piece of good news. No, it's great news. My graduate thesis is now completely finished and graded. I worked on it, off and on, for at least a couple of years. The (especially lengthy) title is Prophets on the Digital Continent: Magisterial Guidance for the Exercise of the Christian Duty to Evangelize Using Modern, Social Means of Communication. I might make copies available for those interested. Let me know if you're one who is interested.

With that, back to my test preparation work.

Happy Advent,
Deacon Jason