Random

• There is a sign on Route 10 in Mangilao, across the street from the KFC, announcing the construction of a PayLess Grocery store that will open in summer 2009. I think the value of our condo, less than a mile away, just took a little jump. One of the downsides of living in the village of Mangilao has been the limited number of retail options.

• A little sunshine for your day -- Lubbock weatherman proposing to anchorwoman on the air ~ link

• Quotable:

The Latin Mass, a relic from the 16th century, is returning to churches across the Valley, the nation and the world one year after Pope Benedict XVI loosened restrictions on priests performing it.

The irony, of course, is that it has become relevant again by not changing at all. ~ John Faherty reporting in the The Arizona Republic on the return of the Latin Mass to the Phoenix area

A couple of observations: (1) Perceived relevance is not necessarily the same thing as real relevance, unless relevance is based on opinion polls. (2) In the pursuit of relevance there is a tendency to swing from pole to pole on the continuum -- or at least the activity on the extreme ends is what sells newspapers.

• Australian oranges have started to show up in the stores on Guam. Unlike many places around the world this year they've got a bumper crop in Queensland. ~ link

• In Keith Drury's post entitled "Deconstructing church -- Five Stages of a Generational Revolution" he outlines the stages which generations go through on the road to fixing the church. However, I wonder if we've had enough history of generational identity to create such developed generalizations. The idea of generational identity didn't seem to exist until the 1950's -- and it's been largely an American phenomena. ~ link