I'm baaaack

You probably knew that I couldn't stay away too long...

What brings me back, you may ask. Well, I've spent a lot of time with my family lately and that has certainly helped lift the fog that I've been under. Here are some recent highlights:

- Baking and eating chocolate cakes with Mattie and Grace based on the recipies that they created
- Playing frisbee with Haley and Mattie
- Practicing softball with Grace, Mattie and Haley
- Yard work with Karyn and Haley
- Traveling to Tucson to visit Karyn's Dad & Stepmom
- Traveling to DC to attend a birthday party at the zoo for the son of longtime friends
- Reconnecting with aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, parents (although this came about due to the deaths of two of my uncles)
- Running long distances (12 miles, 15 miles)
- Interviews for jobs in Roanoke (wow, what a concept!)
- Spring!
- Emails, calls, blogs of friends


And, finally, I found the procedure for verifying the death of a Pope to be quite humorous (thanks to Karyn for pointing this out to me):

"The Prefect of the Papal Household calls in a special bishop called the Camerlengo. He is the one who has to verify the Pope's death. He takes a silver hammer and taps the Pope on the head three times. He also calls out his baptismal name three times. If he doesn't respond, he says, 'The Pope is dead.' He verifies the death in front of the Master of Papal Liturgical Ceremonies, the Cleric Prelates of the Apostolic Camera, and the Secretary and the Chancellor of the Apostolic Camera. Then he takes off the Pope's ring and smashes it so no one else can use it. The Chancellor of the Apostolic Camera creates the death certificate. "

Would that be Maxwell's silver hammer by any chance?