Sunday, June 27, 2010

LOS LINKS!!!

This is driving me nuts already. Everything depends on everything else, and it all costs more and takes longer. It's a total crap shoot with the airlines as far as finding a cheap flight anywhere. If you find one that's not too expensive it ends up going through three different cities that add tariffs so as to double the price. It's insane. Of course, you know how much I like any MicroSoft product, right? Well, I thought I'd try their Bing search engine for the price trend indicator.

Me: Any flights from any of the Washington airports to anywhere in Scotland?
Bing: No, there are no flights like that.
Me: How about to Ireland?
Bing: No, there are no flights like that.
Me: How about if we just say BWI to Glasgow?
Bing: No, there are no flights like that.
Me: But I just found some on Expedia!
Bing: No, there are no flights like that.
Me: Okay, how about Dulles to Glasgow?
Bing: No, there are no flights like that.
Me: Not even the ones I found on Travelocity?
Bing: No, there are no flights like that.
Me: I did check the box for "Include nearby airports?"
Bing: Yes, you did indeed!
Me: Well, do any of the nearby airports have anything to get me from anywhere within 150 miles of DC to within 150 miles of Glasgow?
Bing: No, there are no flights like that.
Me: What if I went from BWI to Belfast and home from Glasgow to BWI?
Bing: No, there are no flights like that.
Me: Right, you're done, Bing! Go take Filomena to a movie or something!

I really don't like making travel arrangements.

Well, nothing happens outside the time and providence of God, and God has brought me this far in the process, so I can only assume something will come together. God is good that way.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Getting in the habit before I get out of the collar

Welcome to my sabbatical blog! As we have been planning this experience of renewal for me and for the Catoctin Presbyterian congregation, it seemed like a good idea for me to start a blog where folks could keep up with my adventures, and this is going to be it. The sabbatical doesn't start for another five weeks or so, but I want to get in the blogging habit, as it says above there, so it won't be boring and sucky for anyone who wanders by, and so I won't have to pull an all-nighter on day 87 out of 90, trying to catch up. I'll be putting the blog address in the church newsletter and will pass it along to the webmaster at the church site, www.catoctin.org, so people will be able to find it.

The three month sabbatical will be from August 2 - October 31, 2010. In that time I am planning a week or so trip to New Mexico Skies, a resort in the mountainous terrain of southeast New Mexico designed for amateur (and maybe professional) astronomers, one of which I am whom. They have a half-dozen or so big telescopes to rent for general observing plus four super special scopes in domed observatories for astrophotography and more serious observers. You can also bring your own equipment, although I don't know that I will. We'll see about that later. The other destination of note is the Iona Community on an island on the west coast of Scotland, where I am planning to spend a week in worship, reflection, and community living and learning. In between, my Dad and I, hopefully with our significant others, will tour around Ireland and Scotland. My hope is to find some evidence of the Douthett family having been in either country. I've found some things on the interwebs that give some ideas of where to look, but many of the records in the appropriate period appear to have been destroyed in church fires and such. Any way, this is also the home turf of the Presbyterians, so we'll look at some of the important Reformation sites, too.

So that's where I got the catchy name for the blog, "A Pastor Looks Up and Back." Up in the sky. Back in history. (Clever, no? Fine, you try to come up with an original blog title that isn't being used, especially when it's dinner time.)

The interesting thing about all this travel is that, even though I have three months available, circumstances dictate all the time away from home has to be in a five-week window from the last few days of August to the first few days of October. So, I'll have a month to prepare, a month to GOGOGOGO, and a month to recover.

I think I can cope with that.

Time to go home for dinner (I was serious!). More soon. As my brother always used to say, "Stay subscribed!"