Hawaii

     This year, my family headed to Hawaii for the holiday cheer.  It has been an excellent trip so far.  We are spearheading a reconnaissance mission for Operation Universal Autocrat: Tortoise Brigade. And today, there was some SCUBA diving (I am actually a bit rusty, having not dived since 1999, near Pismo).  It was excellent however, involving chasing a puffer fish, attempting to pufferize him.  I've also discovered some additional evidence for the migration of coconuts.  The 100% unblended and freshly ground Kona is brewing at the moment.
*smile*

Literature 12-18-5

    I've been continuing to read Will Durant's Story of Civilization: Reformation. I've also been working through the Disciplemaker, and Unceasing Worship.  I also recently recieved my TMS Journal.  The latest is a condensation of the faculty lecture series about the New Perspective on Paul.  I really enjoyed perusing the thoughts and research of my former preofessors.  As I had hoped they had a very language and grammar oriented historical/grammatical exegetical approach, with a special emphasis on context, and also on the presuppositions of the proponents of the NPP.  I especially enjoyed how they picked up on the low view of Christ that the historical critical traditions which the main proponents of the NPP are steeped in.  Their low view of the historical viability of the gospels and other new testament literature colors their perception of the second temple Judaism and its cultural milieu.  Overall, it's been some good reading, though I haven't been reading as much as I'd like. 

Kirkham in the Winter

     December 8th I went camping with some friends up at Kirkham hotsprings near Lowman.  And it was cold!  Really cold! Check out the National Weather stats for Lowman, ID on that date:

Call of Duty 2

 
     I've recently been playing Call of Duty 2.  It's a first person shooter that is set in world war two.  It's a very fun game with excellent graphics and world interaction.  The controls and feel of the game are very similar to Soldier of Fortune 2, which was a long running classic among some of my friends.  There are four nationalities you can play, with differing weapons for each, and as usual, some weapons are more used and effective than others.

 
     The multiplayer is excellent, though it does not have punk-buster enabled, so prepare to get schooled by cheaters.  that's a little sad, but the multiplayer is still fun in spite of that, which speaks volumes.  It also doesn't support a joystick of gamepad, which is a little disappointing.  Overall, however, it's a great game.  I'd recommend giving it a try, if you like first person shooters.

Advent of the Reinpig

      Old Navy had another wave of Reinpigs this year.  Last year, I wasn't fast enough to grab one, and they all got nabbed.  This year, however, I was up on the supposed migratory patterns of the beast.  Experts have stipulated that there is nothing exactly like a Reinpig to celebrate christmas cheer.   What is a Reinpig, you ask?  I'm not actually sure, but it looks to be some sort of abomination that meshes a piggy bank and a reindeer.

Deck the Halls with Plastic Hammers

     In this fourth installment of Playing with Polymers, I finished the first prototype.  It didn't turn out exactly like I had hoped, but it was a good first try for a new and interesting medium.  It did however yield a final piece.  Because of the newness of the medium, I decided to forego using any LEDs in the actual casting process.  This turned out to be a wise decision, as I found out later in the process.

The Quotable Augustine, Vol. 2

     The second installment of quotes from Augustine's City of God have arrived.  It's a diverse cross section of longer quotes from several notable areas.  The quotes are taken from the Schaff compilation, translated by Dods, which is not the translation which I read.  From comparing the two translations, without consulting the latin, the Dods translation looks to be inferior to the Penguin Classic's version, translated by Bettenson.
     Also Augustine's On Christian Doctrine looks good for a future read, probably not until I'm having a hard time sleeping though.