In so much as one can be truly amazed, I find myself in such a state.  The past five days have really been eye opening.  Mostly, I’m amazed at how much can be accomplished in 10 weeks of camp.  Last summer I missed out on enough change that I could walk around camp and see a different place all together.  When you’re actually amidst the fray, the progress in camp seems slow and arduous, but witnessing first hand the before and after of such a large effort on the part of so many students is sobering.

So far the guys I’ve been working with have been pleasant company.  Staff aside, our “opening crew” students have been well motivated and enthusiastic.  I’m looking forward to an amazing summer and yet it hasn’t really started yet, without Virginia at my side (not withholding Ellie, Lola and Petunia)  I miss my love.

Some new staff have already come, along with some old friends.  It’s been wonderful catching up on old time with Jared and seeing Simone again.  Tom and Donna are back, and of course I spent the weekend with Peter and Darlene Bergs (tetrayoungins in tow).

My dad and I rolled into Missanabie on Friday afternoon for yet another summer at camp for the Stubbes.  The drive overall was fine.  Everything is going well except that it’s below zero and snowing.  The drive to Wawa on Saturday was met with an ice crusted windshield and a blown tire.

It certainly is pleasant to see that Northern Ontraio can be counted on to remain cold despite the warnings about climate change and atmospheric warming.  Despite the way I feel, it certainly makes it difficult to think the globe is warming up when it’s snowing at the end of May, but that is weather from my youth.  Rather than being inconvenienced by it, I feel a sense of overpowering nostalgia…well, either that or a lack of blood flow to the brain and loss of motor function from cold.

I have no pictures for anyone yet but will soon.

Ultramontanism is a religious philosophy within the Roman Catholic community that places strong emphasis on the prerogatives and powers of the pope. In particular, ultramontanism may consist in alleging the superiority of Papal authority over the authority of local temporal or spiritual hierarchies (including the local bishop). It literally refers to support for those dwelling “beyond the mountains” (ultra montes), that is, beyond the Alps — specifically referring to the Pope in Rome.

The actual origin of the term is relative and technical ecclesiastical language from the Middle Ages: when a non-Italian pope was elected he was said to be a papa ultramontano.

The word was revived after the Protestant Reformation. Among the northern European governments and peoples there gradually developed a tendency to regard the papacy as a foreign power, especially when the Pope interfered in temporal matters by favoring some ruler or country over another. This name of Ultramontain was applied in France to the supporters of the Roman doctrines and papal superiority, above all of papal political interference, as opposed to the “Gallican liberties” and Jansenism of the indigenous French Catholic Church, which however remained in full communion with Rome. The term was intended to be insulting, or at least to convey the implication of a failing in attachment to one’s own country. From the 17th century, ultramontanism became closely associated with the Society of Jesus, stating the superiority of popes over councils and kings, even in temporal questions.

In the 18th century the word passed to Germany (Josephinism and Febronianism), where it acquired a much wider signification, being applicable to all the conflicts between Church and State, the supporters of the Church being called Ultramontanes. (It is in this sense that Paleoconservatives in the United States are sometimes referred to as being Ultramontanist.)

The word ultramontanism was revived in the context of the French Third Republic as a general insulting terms for policies advocating the involvement of the Roman Catholic Church in the policies of the French government, in opposition to laïcité.

The Canadian parliament (for the more liberal part) was appalled at the idea of selling corporations permits to produce more greenhouse gases and using the money to plant trees.  Now, while perusing the Internet, I found a site that’s selling them to individual consumers, making everyone feel good inside for driving their old crappy cars and heating their houses to a balmy 22 degrees.

“The Carbon Shop”

While I think that a company lining their pockets with money may seem a noble cause when a banner of environmentalism is flown, it strikes familiar with Europeans protesting the seal hunt and greenpeace protesting pollution with aging diesel ships that leak petrol into the oceans they’re fighting to protect.

WE fight television with commercials, obesity with food (dietary supplements) and pollution with gasoline.  If that’s not enough, I was in Shipshewana, the largest Amish settlement in North America and their flea market included a Mary Kay booth.  So, even the Amish are not immune to hypocrisy and the wide swath cut by the scythe of American capitalism.

We’re all doomed for failure because there is no way to rebel against the society we’ve built for ourselves without sacrificing personal comfort, which is always the thing we fight to hang on to the most and what got us here in the first place.  “Fight fire with fire” is an old expression, but a stupid one, because everyone knows you fight fire with water and that frogs butts are water-tight.

Well, it’s back to camp…but no Dave.  This means no bread and no beef jerky.  This means no kissing cardboard cutouts of the BBQ sauce man and no 1st of July celebrations with a good friend.

Dave’s a good guy and we had some fun times.  Killing rabbits with stones and making rabbit stew.  Playing some guitar.  I’ve tried and tried to make my own jerky…but it’s not like Dave’s.  I need your recipe man.  Give me a shout some time.  Camp won’t be the same.

I would not buy this product.  vTech is not supporting it with windows Vista and even if they decide to in the future, it’s not worth the risk.  Listed on Skype’s website are several alternatives.

The telephone is a USB/Standard Cordless phone that works with Skype.  In windows XP it’s fine but under windows Vista it is recognized as a sound device rather than a telephone, rendering it useless.

I always find site statistics fascinating.  I think it all started back when I was working for Stats Canada for a year while I lived in Toronto.  Anyway, numbers don’t lie, that’s why I love them I suppose.

-LINK-

Virginia and I just got back from Ohio and here are a few of the photos we took.

I’m beginning to lose faith in western Canada, as Trudeau did before me.  For the 4th month now this company has billed my credit card after confirming three times that my account was canceled.  Now I’m finding it humorous, but still frustrating. 

At least this time they contacted me within 24 hours and ensured me everything would be remedied. It would seem that things have changed somewhat. So all of this may not have been in vain.

For anyone who gives a rip about where I sit, or becomes curious to see this from my perspective:  This is my desk.  That’s actually how clean I keep it, being as I’m meticulous and all.

It’s been some time since anyone has seen updates to my genealogy section and Stubbe section of the site but don’t worry.  I can’t stay completely bored with it forever.  Believe it or not (and some do because they have blogs) writing into the void becomes a tedious thing.  Especially now that facebook and myspace are here people don’t leave comments anymore.

Social networking is such a lame excuse for interaction.  Even now, you might be reading this and feeling as though I’m speaking to you but it’s an illusion.  We’re given this false sense of security when it comes to relationships because we can maintain them from a safe distance.  We can talk to people on the phone, send them a note on facebook or poke them.  Well, what a tremendous waste of human interaction that is.  We have so much to offer one another in person.

Come and see my desk for yourself and I’ll bake some fresh bread and boil water for tea.