As I try to recover from the grim experience I had recently that I recounted in my last blog, I now ask for prayers for the victims of Gustav, for those who already lost lives and property, mostly outside of the US, and those along the Gulf Coast who are forced to flee Gustav's wrath. There is a lady I used to exchange messages with from a Catholic prayer site who lives near the Louisiana coast. She sent me an e-mail asking me to pray for her. It seems she has limited resources, and I don't know if she is even able to leave. I certainly hope so, because, we were told, those who remain behind will be on their own. Please pray for her, and also ask others to do so. Also pray that all the relief agencies at all levels of government will be capable of dealing with the situation, which, thankfully, seems to be the case this time around. Amen.

I don't know why I'm writing this here, I guess for therapy or something. Today I was taking a walk in early afternoon along a fairly busy street trafficwise when I noticed a young African-American male riding his bicycle who seemed to be following me, but I wasn't sure. I took a detour along a side street, a residential area, which I now know was a mistake. The guy approached me, we exchanged greetings, then he demanded my money. I told him I didn't want any trouble, then he said, I don't want to get shot either. He put his hand just above his crotch. Did he have a gun? In retrospect, probably not. It occurred to me to fight him off, since he was fairly close to me, and he looked like he might have been high or something. But instead, I gave him my wallet, after first taking out my cards and ID. He took the cash, about $30, gave me back my wallet, and rode off. When he was gone, I called 9-1-1 with my cell phone, and first one police car showed up, then another. I told them what happened, gave a description, but it looks like the creep got away. If they had caught him on the spot, I might have been able to give a positive ID, but now, I don't know, unless he's wearing the same clothes, so I'm afraid of getting a call saying they arrested a suspect and want me to go down and identify him when I'm not sure I can. This is very discouraging. All I was doing was taking a walk to the corner Long John Silver's for lunch. Now I'm afraid of taking walks, a favorite pasttime until now. This isn't the perfect part of town, but it's not a ghetto either. Could I have fought him off successfully? I guess I'll never know, but I know there are lots of people who could have. Maybe it wouldn't have been worth it, since the only material goods I lost was some cash, and kept everything else. But I lost something much more valuable. My pride and my security. A while back I did a quote quiz from The Flinstones episode "Once Upon A Coward". Now I know how Fred felt. I try to live a life of faith. Why me, God?

Sorry if that sounded whiny, I just had to tell someone. I ask anyone reading this to please pray for me. Thanks!

I still remember nine years ago today. I was in Ireland as part of a Catholic group tour, a pilgrimage, of religious sites, and on this date I was in County Cork. It was the day that I met a lady, who was about my age and had joined the group that day, from the Twin Cities, MN (why is only Mpls.-St. Paul called the Twin Cities? What about Dallas-Ft. Worth, or Tampa-St. Petersburg?). At first I didn't think much of it. Later we went with the group to kiss the Blarney Stone, where I met another woman who looked about my age, who asked me to snap a picture of her kissing the stone with her camera. Unfortunately, I was having trouble with it and before I knew it she was done. The lines there are very long so you have to move very fast and you don't get do-overs. I told her about and I'm sure she was disappointed, but didn't get mad. Still, I've felt awful about it ever since. They have a professional crew snap pictures of everyone kissing the stone, and you can get yours for a price, which at the time was five Irish pounds, or $7 and something. I hope she got hers, as I did mine.

Anyway, back to the first lady. Later that night the group spent the night at a hotel in the city of Cork. After checking in I went with an older couple walking around town, where we ate at a Burger King (I went all the way to Ireland to eat at Burger King?) and visited a pub. After getting back to the hotel, the lady asked me if I wanted to walk around town with her, and I said no, dummy that I was! Truth be told, I was very tired, and was still feeling jet-lagged, but could have taken her up on that anyway. We hit it off well before parting, but maybe if I had opened up more, instead of acting like a shy school boy ( ), she would have answered the cards and letters I've sent her since then. Or maybe she feels there's no point in it, since nothing could come of it, living over 1500 miles apart. Still, a little card from her would be nice! As I've mentioned before, I've felt a little melancholy about it on and off, and it was that that led me to TV.com. She seemed so right, having the same faith and everything. For what it's worth, this was on Friday the 13th, thus cancelling out any good luck I was supposed to get from kissing the stone . Sorry, I just had to get all that off my chest, for a while at least .

A note about the Blamey Stone. It was a gift from the Scotsman Robert the Bruce to Cormac McCarthy in gratitude for the latter's support in the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, which was depicted in the 1995 Oscar-winning Mel Gibson film Braveheart. I have several pictures from that trip, and if I can ever figure out how to scan them to my PC, I'll show them to you.

Congrats to IndianaMom, who knew that Hannibal Smith (George Peppard) on The A-Team said "I love it when a plan comes together". I can't think of another show quote right now (and I have to get my laundry ) so here's a movie quote from a popular 1950s film. Different characters said it, with slight variations due to accent and such.

"When are you gonna get married? You oughtta be ashamed of yourself!"

What was the movie? Like last time, PM the answer during the first couple days or so, then say it in the comments. Bye!