Buzzed on Mass or Full of the "holy spirits"

So, everything was set and I was going to Mass this morning. Then, after planning on a laundry drop off, a meeting and a small project to complete, I figured to skip it. Two other guys I know both asked me to go to Mass with them and so I went. And wouldn't you know it, Father asks me to be the Eucharistic Minister. Keep in mind, I had the audacity to be the last man in, not the only person in the church. No biggie, I'll serve (must be something about me). So, we get to the Eucharist, and Father pours the entire pitcher of wine into the chalice, figure NINE OUNCES or so. It was full. So I serve. The holy blood. After everyone had been through, there are, oh, a good seven ounces of wine in the chalice. Did I mention it had been very full? Took me three guzzles to get it down...almost tripped on the way to my seat. Yeah, I know. It's holy blood under the appearance of wine, I get it. Still and all, it was the most of anything under the appearance of wine I'd had in a month or two. Needless to say, this morning was a happy morning. I almost asked Father if I could take it back to the can and enjoy it with some MRE cheese and crackers.

We've begun to focus down on what we're supposed to be doing, I think. I know I changed my scope in terms of synchronizing the staff. Bottom line, it's all about following up and being able to do so. A staff huddle does us no good if nobody captures the issues and follows up on them. Essentially I've begun to settle into something of a routine enough to stop and look up, right and left and realize where we're going, what I need to do to help us get there.

What else this week....hmm... Random happenings, pretty much. Folks keep coming by our cell to ask us if we can renew their identification cards, which we cannot. We can help them with a post badge, but it's not the same thing. It's funny. Some folks take "we can't do that" as the equivalent of "we can do that, but we're just not going to do it for you." In fact, I might start to answer that way. I especially like the "but I need " kind of folks. This one person called, talked to my tech and said, "well, if we can't get the Iraq wide access [also totally out of my control], then just down grade the badge to this other color." I had to stop and scratch my head on that one. So I looked at the tech and said, "Cool. I'll withdraw the request, downgrade her and we're done" (which is now my standard answer). It's sad, really. I didn't know that what we did was the same thing as a McDonald's drive through.

I know I promised to post more often. Currently, if the internet in the can is down, I don't post. Speaking of which, it was down the first half of this week, and it's been up, finally, for the last three. So I'm happy, relatively speaking. Once my headset arrives I'll get to call Kim from the can instead of waiting for a line somewhere else. It's the little things that count.

The next challenges: get a dorm fridge, a normal chair (instead of this small plastic foldy one), and an air purifier (cut down on the dust in here).

Enjoy!