Misc. News Alerts

1) Krista came to me several days ago and said “I think I want to start drinking coffee.” My first response was “don’t play with me, it’s not funny.” But it’s true. Apparently, Coffeemate and Splenda ease first timers into the dark underbelly of the sacred bean.

I told her that three years ago, I placed a small café table (donated by Gretchen and Chris) outside on our patio and prayed fervently that one day, we would drink coffee together in the cool mornings while rifling through morning papers and online content. Monday, I ground the beans, boiled the water, and steeped the French Press; then we sat down. For a whole 3 minutes. Then the child awoke and we moved the impressionist painting indoors. Note: when you move a mentally contrived impressionistic café scene indoors, it loses something; especially with the addition of a 2 year old.

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2) Dr. Francis Beckwith – a wonderful philosopher, professor at Baylor, and president of ETSjoined the Roman Catholic Church (a move that both garnered sharp criticism and rousing praise).

In typical ABC Lost fashion, I ask “how are these two events connected?”

Toasted

I’m in New England.

Did I miss some piece of northeast etiquette about bagels? Each time the server asked if I wanted it toasted; each time I said no; each time they charred it beyond anything edible and served it to me anyway.

Three times they burned me, the fourth time I gave in and said “yes, please toast it.”  Next, I’ll slip and let them put that stupid cream and sugar in the coffee for me without asking (“regular,” as they like to call it).

An Old Post – Resurrected

You scored as Jürgen Moltmann. The problem of evil is central to your thought, and only a crucified God can show that God is not indifferent to human suffering. Christian discipleship means identifying with suffering but also anticipating the new creation of all things that God will bring about.

J�rgen Moltmann
 
60%
Anselm
 
60%
Friedrich Schleiermacher
 
47%
Karl Barth
 
40%
Charles Finney
 
40%
John Calvin
 
33%
Martin Luther
 
33%
Paul Tillich
 
33%
Jonathan Edwards
 
27%
Augustine
 
27%

Which theologian are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

This was an old draft I found while cleaning out my drafts. I think it was from around the end of April.  Which theologian are you?

Firefox 2.0

In keeping with the Web 2.0 buzz-i-ness, Mozilla released version 2.0 of the Firefox Web Browser yesterday. I grabbed Release Candidate 2 and 3 a while ago and was happy with them. 2.0 is nice as well. I agree with Michael, pages tend to render a bit faster.

There is also a a nice built in spell check feature for fields. This is what I liked about Apple’s Safari browser, but I had a hard time duplicating this via extensions in Firefox.

If you’re an early adopter, it’s worth the download. If you’re not, wait for the 2.1 version so they can work out the bugs.

Sarah Vowell Visit

I had the opportunity to see one of my (and Krista’s) favorite authors two nights ago. Sarah Vowell is a frequent contributor to This American Life and has authored several books and various articles in periodicals and newspapers all over the world. I enjoy her powers of observation, wit, and delivery.

Pete and Janet, our self-described public radio friends, joined us for an evening of readings and high stakes bootlegging (if you’d like a copy, let me know).

A Day of Study

Today I’ll be working on a paper for my doctoral class this semester.

My “mobile office” will be parked at the Illinois Wesleyan University Ames Library today. It’s the statue library, you’ll see 2 of them below. I enjoy working on the fourth floor, it provides the best view (not that I get to enjoy it much).

The Mobile Library

The mobile office.

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Statue 1

The statue that’s sometimes dressed with interesting pieces of clothing.

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Statue 2

The main rotunda with yet another statue.

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Elevator Up

Up to the fourth floor.

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The study room

The view from the study room.

New Phone

I got a new phone (long story) and now I have one of those obnoxious cameras. Here’s what happened today:

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Erin shows up for early morning chapel rehearsal @ 6:45 AM. She’s still sleeping.

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Kenyon is sleeping with his eyes open at the same rehearsal.

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Tom and Adam are wide awake at the rehearsal (after much coffee, I suspect).

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Jeff is not amused by the new phone.

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The Webhound investigates said phone.

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Jacob stops by for a Senseo.