I took a close look at this year's Madonna & Child stamp from the USPS. It's the one that I opt for every year, no matter the design.

And, I gotta say, the faces are identical.

"Spittin' image," as they say.

And my wild imagination starts thinking about DNA and cloning and ... other strange stuff.

I'm usually not this rationalistic!

Now that I'm visiting the doctor every week, the wait time bothers me.

Last week, I spent 75 minutes, only to see the doctor for less than 2. Yesterday, it was an hour.

All along, my appointments have been late morning Wednesdays, but after last week, the scheduler suggested a mid-afternoon Tuesday appointment.

I thought the switch was for my sake, to reduce my waiting time. But, no, the waiting room was as crowded as usual. It seems the switch was only so that the "lead" doctor could see me, a man whom I haven't seen since the beginning.

Mid-afternoon Tuesday is a bad time for me.

I picked Tim up from school fifteen minutes early. A friend took Kenny home for quick snack and homework, then shuttled him over to the after-school religious ed. program at church. I picked him up from there after my appointment.

So, when the scheduler said, "Does next Tuesday afternoon, same time work for you?" I said, "NO WAY! I had to jump through hoops to get here today!" She put me back to Wednesday, late morning.

The doctor said, "Now, when would you like to deliver the baby?" And I said, "By the 19th." He said, "Well, we'll make plans when we see you next week, then." Of course, the doctors have holiday schedules of their own to think about. Frankly, I would be surprised if induction were necessary. I can already tell that the baby has "dropped," as they say. Breathing and driving are easier now and that annoying pain on my left side has lessened.

So, Tim came with me to the doctor's office which is located in a building adjacent to the hospital.

Tim wanted to know whether we were going to "the children's hospital" or "the adults' hospital". You see, he's had some experience with "the children's hospital". From my perspective, his experience was very, very good. But children usually have their own perspective and simply being in the hospital is often not good.

Hopefully in a few weeks, he won't mind visiting me in the hospital. I know that Kenny will love it!

If you get a chance, watch this program:

"Buffalo's Houses of Worship" - WNED documentary

Buffalo, New York possesses a remarkable number and variety of architectural masterpieces from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The city can boast of secular buildings designed by three of America's greatest architects: Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright and Henry Hobson Richardson.

However, the city's sacred architecture, representing the Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Unitarian Universalist and Jewish faiths, is equally as impressive.

BUFFALO'S HOUSES OF WORSHIP is a grand exploration of 12 sacred Buffalo landmarks. From Gothic to Byzantine, Romanesque to Arts and Crafts, and Baroque to Modern, this program reveals the various architectural styles of Buffalo's houses of worship.

The documentary features the tallest openwork spire ever built completely of stone, the church that housed one of the first men and boys choirs in the United States, an ornately decorated church built using medieval methods and tools, and the historic Centennial organ, originally built for the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.

My favorite appears towards the end of the program, Blessed Trinity.

St. Stan's was an early "mega-church," it seems, with a congregation of 20,000 in 1904!

Most of the churches featured are Roman Catholic. Does that surprise anyone?

And, seeing these majestic buildings, is it any wonder that I'm "high church"?

Fox's 11 o'clock news last night alluded to a strangler in Buffalo making America's Most Wanted:

"Buffalo Bike Path Rapist - Fugitive":

For 20 years detectives in Buffalo, NY have been hunting for a predator.

"Bike Path Rapist Investigation Attracts Hundreds of Tip Calls" - WGRZ, 11/17/06:

"The first case was in June of 1986, when a 44-year-old woman was attacked in Buffalo's Delaware Park.

In May of 1990, a woman in her 30's was attacked on the Ellicott Creek bike path in Amherst.

In September of 1990, 22-year-old University at Buffalo student was attacked on the Ellicott Creek bike path."

Delaware Park is a very open and public area.

The bike path has some remote, desolate spots, especially closer to the 990. This isn't a bad map, if you zoom in, like, to 150%. Scroll down and scroll right. The bike path is the green dots.

I'm sure that I ran alone along the bike path from time-to-time.

Everyone thought that the daylight hours were safe times.

Sometimes my hallmate would ride her bike along as I ran. And, when Jeff visited, he would also ride a bike as I ran.

Jeff says that he remembers me mentioning the attacks at the time, but none of the women had been murdered until after I graduated and left campus.

"Warning Issued About Traveling Alone on Bike Paths" - UB NewsCenter, 11/16/06:

"With the establishment of a link between a recent homicide involving the wife of a UB faculty member on a bike path in Clarence and a series of attacks on women in the region more than a decade ago, including one on the bike path near the North Campus in 1990, members of the university community are again reminded that they should not travel alone on the Ellicott Creek bicycle path near the North Campus or on other Western New York pathways.

There is always safety in numbers. If you intend to walk, jog or bicycle on a bicycle path or in other areas, please do so with a friend."

Bike paths are so popular. There was one in Ohio that my brother and I would run along.

And, you know, when you live on a college campus, you just come to expect things like this happening. That's the reality.

One evening after practice, I had a male teammate escort me to my dorm and, during our walk across campus, he was like, "How do you know that you can trust me?!" And I was like, "What? I know your name!" What a doof.

Then there's the time that a deranged young man was hiding in our dorm suite bathroom, in a shower stall. He was apprehended later that day by campus police and all manner of dangerous stuff was found in his car's trunk. Me, when I saw him cowering there behind the shower curtain? I just thought he was someone's boyfriend and I planned to lecture my suitemates later in the day about making their boyfriends use the showers in the next suite, a male suite.

Jim told us about this on Tuesday:

"In the Beginning-Bibles Before the Year 1000"

He attended the SBL's annual meeting in D. C. two weekends ago (11/18 - 11/21) and toured the exhibit, I guess.

I don't have a hope of getting there before the exhibit closes in January.

Jim said that someone tried to make the case that the "Codex Washingtonensis" is first-century instead of fourth or fifth-century but most were not convinced.

That would be something if it were true.

Just the fact that the document is in codex form precludes it being first-century, doesn't it?

One of my acquaintances is upset about this:

"Extraordinary ministers of Eucharist barred from purifying vessels", Catholic News Service, 10/24/06.

It would trouble me greatly if it results in communion under only one species.

Yet, think about it: Extraordinary Ministers of Eucharist function in the first place to distribute communion whenever a shortage of ordinary ministers, namely priests, deacons and acolytes, exists. So, a shortage of ordinary ministers for distribution is likely to translate into a shortage for purification, right?

Truth be told, I have not seen my parish's deacon for months and months.

Prior to the '02 indult, I was purifying vessels under the watchful eye of a deacon. I'm not sure what the direction was in those days. I never asked. I just did as I was told.

Tuesday morning after Mass, the extraordinary ministers, two laywomen, cleared the vessels from the sanctuary to the sacristy while Father Mike took his usual position in the narthex to greet exiting parishioners. In my opinion, pastor "face time" is more important than "cloister time" doing dishes.

But, still, things have changed, so how come the laywomen are still cleaning up?

An article in this week's diocesan newspaper holds the answer:

"Reviewing the directive and its potential impact in the diocese, Father Sam Sirianni, director of the diocesan Office of Worship, said the diocese is awaiting further clarification from the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on the Liturgy. Meanwhile, he said, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion will continue to assist the priests and deacons of their parishes with the purification of the vessels.

'Until the proper catechesis has been prepared and disseminated by the Office of Bishop John M. Smith to all parishes on how this regulation will be implemented in the diocese, no practice in the diocese should be changed.'

With regard to the reception of Holy Communion by the faithful under both species, Father Sirianni said that in the diocese the option continues to be 'encouraged and highly recommended.'"

I'm actually surprised by this. What "proper catechesis" would be necessary? It's straightforward: hey, you laity, stop doing the dishes. Am I missing something?

Our bishop is progressive but orthodox. Fr. Sirianni is a stickler. Yet this seems like open disobedience. What's happening on the national level? What's the American bishops response in general?

It could well be that the change will take effect this weekend, the First Sunday of Advent. It's a behind-the-scenes change; only extraordinary ministers themselves are affected. Provided that the pastor doesn't forego greeting parishioners after Mass or fall back to communion under one species. Those sorts of things would impact all of us detrimentally.

The bishop is scheduled to be in Highstown tomorrow to bless the new addition at St. Anthony's. Maybe I'll attend the blessing Mass and ask him what's up with all this. He'll have to talk to me; I'll bring my receipt from his most recent annual Bishop's Appeal!

Now, why didn't I think of this:

"Rubbed the wrong way, mother invents solution", The Examiner, 11/30/06

... when her child, also a lefty, began coming home with the smudges as well, she knew that something needed to be done.

"He was all, 'Mommy, my hands are all dirty,' and, you know, I told him that's part of being left-handed. That's a problem, and he wasn't happy about this."

The better pens don't smear as easily but when I'm careless about it, it's still a problem.