My Women in Christianity course has been going really well, honestly better than I could have hoped. Nevertheless, I still get nervous the night before each class! That is just how it is with a new class ( Read more... )

I really want an Abe Lincoln costume for Halloween. He was skinny, 6'4", and had a beard. Sound like anyone you know? Too bad I don't have a few hundred bucks on hand to buy an old-fashioned black jacket. Maybe I can get a grant and participate in some historical re-enactments or stand around at the Lincoln Memorial shaking people's hands and ( Read more... )

I went back to St. Mark's thrift shop and picked up Jackel, Blades of Steel, and what turned out to be a 60-pin-to-72-pin (i.e., Japanese Famicon to American Nintendo) converter with the pirate game Super Mario World 9, which is just Adventure Island II with Mario replacing Master Higgens. It looks like I can sell the converter on eBay for perhaps ( Read more... )

On Saturday my parents, wife, daughter, and I went to an obscure thrift store attached to an Episcopalian church because my parents need to visit one every day in order to write this trip off their taxes as a business trip. I went to look at some books and noticed some old, gray NES cartridges at my feet next to what looked at first blush like VHS ( Read more... )

I went undefeated for three rounds in a nineteen-man tournament (another player was undefeated as well), largely thanks to Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief (who won me three of my six games). All seven (!) rares were red, black, and colorless, and I played them all (never done that before)! I don't think I've ever spent less time deciding which colors ( Read more... )

I was still debating whether to go to the Rise of the Eldrazi prerelease tournament while lying in bed at 9:30 am (doors opened at 9). I finally decided to, jumped out of bed, packed a lunch, and got ready as fast as I could! Quite a bit different than the old days when you had to drive to Seattle the night before! It should be noted that I had ( Read more... )

Does not moving away from your hometown (at least for a while) to go to college (or the military, etc.) stunt a person's social development? Is college so important to the culture of young adults that those who don't participate are left in a social vacuum that prevents them from maturing? Obviously this cannot be a universal rule, but I wonder if ( Read more... )

 I was observed teaching today by the Dean for Undergraduate Students in the School of Theology & Religious Studies. Fortunately, it went better than usual. My one bad student behaved herself and even participated, and in fact I got a higher percentage of participation than ever before (okay, this was only our third full-class discussion, but still ( Read more... )

Sometimes my academic advisor calls me Tom. Not great. He is in his 70s, though....

Redaction: Turns out I was CCed on an email to an actual Tom that I work with. That is a relief, as I am going to assume that that's what happened last time as well. I'm not used to being CCed.

(Does anyone know why WotC released almost the full visual spoiler for Worldwake in advance this time? Have they ever spoiled so many before?)

I went 3-1 playing RG aggro. Might've gone 4-0 had I realized Strength of the Tajuru is an instant!

Creatures
Deathforge Shaman
Elemental Appeal (rare)
Goblin Roughrider
Grotag Thrasher
Inferno Trap
Molten Ravager
( Read more... )