Steindom Blogs

Alpha Has Died

Joel — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Yes, Alpha the Beta has finally met the Omega. The end. Finé. He is about to return to the great waters whence he came.

He was a good fish. Always faithful, despite the turmoil I put him through. He didn't care that the water was mucky most of his life, or that he would sometimes go days without being fed. He was optimistic, and always wagged his fin when his master came around.

He managed to live 3 years, which apparently is average for his kind. I think he died of embarrassment or fear. Embarrassment, because Heather would frequently mock him. Or fear, because in his last cleaning, I put a small plastic alligator in the water to keep him company. We found him lying next to the alligator with his head very near his new friend's jaws.

Unity Awards this Saturday

Joel — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Hello from New Orleans! Heather, Lucia, and I are vacationing down here this week, and will attend the Unity Awards this Saturday night. The Unity Awards are likened to the Grammy's for Catholic Music, and this year I was nominated for 5 of them. I don't expect to win any, but if I do, I don't expect to be called up to stage (I'm not really sure how the ceremony works). Nevertheless, if you want to watch the awards, you should be able to see it streamed live this Saturday night, 7 pm central time, at this url.

My good friend Matthew Baute (and fellow St. Louis Catholic musician) will perform one song at the ceremony, as well as many other Catholic musicians whom I admire. So consider it a free concert!

I hope you are doing well. Much love from The Big Easy!

Music Updates

Joel — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Did you know that the theme for the 2008 National Catholic Charismatic Renewal Conference is A Future Full of Hope? Woh, what a coincidence... I have a song called "Future Full of Hope." Maybe somebody in the upper-echelons on of the National Service Community will discover this (actually, I already contacted them about it) and then decide that the conference really needs this song for some purpose.

Not long ago, I also discovered that the USCCB's national strategy for vocations is called A Future Full of Hope. Man, this song really hits the spot! I imagine a bunch of bishops sitting around singing, "your will is ordered..." Maybe I should send them a lyric sheet so they don't start singing, "a pitcher full of foam."

In related news, last week Always Forward and I (we're best friends) received 5 Unity Award nominations. The Unity Awards are basically the Catholic Grammys, organized by the UCMVA. I would love your votes, but it will cost you 75 smackers, because first you have to purchase a membership, and then you can vote. Don't worry—I can't afford it either! I'll keep everyone posted if anything comes of this. While it would be exciting to win an award or two, I'm not looking for acclaim. Just a little help selling CDs and paying off the album debt.

Speaking of which, isn't it time you purchased an Always Forward CD for yourself? I hear they make great back–to–school gifts. You can play "Future Full of Hope" for all your seminarian or charismatic friends. Buy 5 for a creative coaster set. Did you know that the album celebrated its 1-year birthday last month? I mean, it's practically vintage.

While we're on the topic of birthdays... my beautiful daughter Lucia turned two today. Heather and I went to Mass this morning, the Feast of the Transfiguration, and we remembered that glorious day when our own little light came into the world. It's hard to believe she's already two; just last year, she was only one! God is good, all the time.

Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush

Joel — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Yesterday I finished reading Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush. Not one to go looking for political books, I was surprised when I saw it on the bookshelf and immediately wanted to read it. All in all, I really liked the book. I learned a lot about the political process, and gained a broader sense of how things fit together and how our government works day-to-day. Most of all, I learned a lot about our incumbent president—his character and decision-making and leadership style. He has not been a popular president by any means. But as the title suggests, he is a man of certainty and determination, and I would argue, a man of authenticity. That's rare (and attractive) in the political world.

The author (Robert Draper) writes less of an analysis of Bush's activity as president, but more unfolds the story in narrative form about how the man of George Bush tackled his presidential activities. It's about who Bush is, where he comes from, what makes him tick, his personality, and so on. Draper interviewed some 200 people to write this book, and it reads as though you are a part of the White House administrative staff—right there in the action.

While it's not a comprehensive critical analysis of the past 7 years, I did learn a lot about many notable events: the 9/11 terrorist attack, the "war on terror", the ongoing activity in Iraq, hurricane Katrina, and the immigration issue.

Since the book was written and published during Bush's presidency, there wasn't much insight into how political historians will consider Bush's contributions as the 43rd president of the United States. But I did learn how this "untested" man prior to the presidency "grew" into being a wartime president and national leader.

I now have a renewed interest in watching the 2008 presidential race come to a close, and am already praying and sacrificing for the best candidate (in God's eyes) to win.

How to Perform 10,000+ Push-Ups

Joel — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I am in my second week of a six-week training program to help me eventually perform 100 consecutive push-ups. Three of my friends are joining me. It's going well so far. Before I started, I could only do 19 consecutively, and after the first week I could do a few more. Not bad, not bad. A long way from 100, though.

For a little motivation, I researched the current world record for the most consecutive push-ups.

Are you ready for this?

10,507 - by Minoru Yoshida, from Japan, back in 1980. Wow. I cannot believe what amount of physical exhaustion his body must have undergone... but talk about stamina! That guy is stamina.

I also read the story of Charles Linster, who first held the record of 6,006 in 1965. While he underwent years of training to accomplish this feat, I was surprised to learn that much of his battle was psychological. In his early push-up years, he went from barely 100 consecutives to over 400 in two weeks, just because he felt "good" and pushed himself.

So, how am I going to do 10,508 push-ups and beat the world record? One push-up at a time. Wish me luck!

I can actually feel the protein re-building in my arms.

What Heaven Must Look Like

Joel — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

If you are in love with food as much as I am, I think you'll agree: Heaven will be a feast! Of course, we will be sustained by the presence of God, and will want for nothing. But until I can fully understand what that means, I will have to imagine it based on concepts I understand, like rivers of chocolate milk, houses made of cheese, and hot-air fruit balloons.

Heather's sister forwarded us these images, and they were just too tasty to pass up! Everything in the pictures is made of food. At first I was blown away that somebody could do this... then I remembered computers. But I rather like imagining that there's actually a place that looks like this.

Adventures in House-Hopping

Lucia — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I don't know about you, but I think living in one place for more than a few months is overkill. See, we lived in St. Louis when I was born. But after six months I got a little stir crazy. So I convinced my parents to move to Atlanta and buy a house there. My very practical father thought this was a little sudden (especially since I was so young), but finally consented.

Atlanta was great. I went swimming almost every day, and learned so much there — crawling, walking, climbing, and how to speak a few words ("mama" and "dada"). I even met a look-alike friend named Molly, who let me ride in her aqua-mobile. But nine months passed, and I began itching for that sweet Missouri humidity once more. My poor father and mother put up a fight, dwelling mostly on the fact that we were homeowners and it's foolish to sell a house so soon after purchasing it. However, I had my sights set on the farm where Daddy grew up. Yes, I could smell the bacon several states away.

Odessa was even better! We spent our days visiting the piggies, feeding the farm kitties, eating tons of popcorn, and learning about Jesus and Mary at the church. Plus, I got very acquainted with Daddy's parents (Grandpa & Grandma Stein). They treated me very well, played lots of games with me, and even changed a few of my diapers. But our farm euphoria couldn't last forever, because after six months I had the overwhelming desire to get back to my roots. Despite Dad's reluctance to leave his roots behind, we packed up the car and made our way back to St. Louis.

Not having sold the house in Georgia (looks like Dad was right on that one), we had to live with some friends. I requested the Hochschilds, since they have a baby boy my age, named Maxwell. Oh, the fun we had! Maxwell reminds me a lot of bubbles — I always really want them, but when I get the chance to play with them, I'm suddenly uninterested. Okay, so we had some great moments. Who can forget me pushing him down, yanking on his toys, or bossing him around. Yeah, there wasn't enough room for the both of us, so this time I thought we better go full circle and live with Mommy's parents (Oma & Opa Casper).

Well Dad finally decided to find an apartment here in St. Louis while we continue praying for a buyer for our house. While he was searching, I had fun feeding the dogs, playing with "little people," and watching Opa manipulate photographs and Oma give piano lessons. Oma and Opa let us sleep in the pink room, which of course is very exciting for me. They call it the "honeymoon suite," but I don't understand what that means.

When he finally found our apartment, Dad told me how happy he was to have our own place again. We have settled into South City St. Louis pretty well, I have lots of room to play, we're close to some really nice parks, and our landlord has a small-sized kiddie pool in they backyard — oh yeah, I go swimming in it every day.

We're pretty cozy, but don't tell Dad — in about six months, I'm going to think of some creative way to move again!

Following His "Head"?

Joel — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

It was brought to my attention that one of the tracks on Always Forward, "Following His Lead," was misspelled on iTunes. Somehow the title was displayed as "Following His Head". This was very likely my mistake. It's comforting to know that, even though many people purchased and downloaded the "Head" version, at least I sang the "Lead" version on the recording.

I am happy to report that as of this morning, you can download "Following His Lead" from iTunes without needing to rename the file. Whew! And it only took one year to get that resolved.

In other news, "Future Full of Hope" has been renamed to "Pitcher Full of Foam".

New Website: Rocking Romans

Joel — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

I am happy to announce that the new Rocking Romans website (a project which has kept me busy in my spare time) has finally launched. I usually avoid developing e-commerce websites, so this project really stretched me. But it was a good stretch. So go buy some Catholic CDs and enjoy the seamless shopping cart and checkout experience!

Rocking Romans is a new organization aimed at raising the level of Catholic music to compete with its secular counterparts. I must admit, I think it will become one of the best resources for new Catholic music. Almost a month ago they released a compilation CD titled, 2008 Best of New Catholic Music, and the quality of the music and recordings is great. You just might recognize one of the artists on that CD... :)

Actually, there is a little secret on the RR website for Always Forward super-fans. Each song has a little explanation with it, which can help unlock some of the song's meaning. I'll have to add those to the music website, as well.

Enjoy!

Maria Lactans, Pray for Us!

Heather — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Our Lady of the Milk: she's making a comeback.

Images of Our Lady nursing the Christ Child date back to around 250 A.D., and were prevalent until about 200 years ago. The Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, recently called for a rebirth of imagery of Mary nursing the baby Jesus. An American priest has built a chapel dedicated to Maria Lactans, called the Madonna Chapel, in Illinois. Catholic Exchange's "Theology of the Body" blog even promoted Maria Lactans as a remedy for men struggling with impurity.

I'm excited about his resurgence of devotion to Our Lady of the Milk. Breastfeeding mothers and many couples struggling with infertility know of her, but it's so beautiful to see her sphere expanding beyond that of mothers and would-be parents. She's an icon for all of us, giving of herself to Christ through her vocation. That's certainly something we can aspire to in our prayer and our dealings with others.

Images of Maria Lactans are diverse and beautifully intimate. Check out some of the depictions in this gallery.