Helping Myself Study
Well, the three amigas have once again descended upon suite 424F, and since I am finishing a project, I am sending them in your direction, gentle reader, with this disclaimer: I don't have any idea who these people are! With that said, I leave them to you....
Greetings Reader of the Blog. We are Pete's coolest and most awesome friends. We are Zeller, Kimshaw, and The Fireball. We have come to socialize with Pete but he has abandoned us for academic pursuits. So, now that he has left the room we can tell you the real deal about Pete Dishman. But why talk about Pete when we can talk about us.
Sadly, the three amigas have had a small falling out. "She's in my airspace," exclaimed one. "She crossed the invisible line," shreiked another. "She's looking at me," complained the third. As a result, I have been forced to intervene and give them a little more "direction." So, girls, why don't you try a "story?" Or perhaps some scintillating commentary on the state of the state? Gossip about "Jeff and Aubrey" from "days of old" sounds dangerous...But I leave it to your discretion and reading of Proverbs.
The Mythological Biography of Peter William Dishman
Peter William Dishman was born long long ago, in a land far far away. New Jersey, to be precise. It was a hot day, about 2/3 of the way through August. His family was delighted to make his acquaintance. He was the golden haired most favored one. He was 37 inches long and weighed 16 pounds 2 ounces. Nothing much interesting happened for a while. But then his family realized that it was no fun being Yankees, so they made a hasty move to the great state of Texas. There Peter learned important Texan survival skills like how to lasso a calf and how to chop wood.
As fate would have it--wait, I mean as providence would have it--he set out on a quest to change the world. Being naturally inquisitive, he retreated to his secret laboratory to build his alter ego, Dish Man. Dish Man has the power to leap over tall buildings and will hopefully be able to write many volumes of theological treatises, once version 8.7 is released. Keep your fingers crossed, folks, we're looking at a November release date at this point.
But this is not all. Oh no, this is not all. After his early successes with Dish Man, Peter was inspired to even bigger and better things. Presently, after a glorious and storied academic career at Washington and Lee and the University of Texas, Peter hit the apex of his life thus far. He entered Covenant Theological Seminary.
Quickly, he picked up something crucial to all mythological heros. Sidekicks. These sidekicks are known as Shazaam and Mountain Man. Mountain Man hopes to legally change his name to Beach Bum, but the process is not yet complete. We'll keep you updated on that as well, gentle readers, if you sign up for our e-mail list. Jut let Peter know the vital information.
Shazaam, Mountain Man and Peter had something of an intramural battle [editor: except for the fact that Shazaam wasn't part of the mural], epic on a similar plane as the infamous Trojan Wars. They journeyed to the scene of the battle, Columbia, MO. There, on that desolate plain, they prepared to swim oceans, run vast distances, and bicycle to glory. Their fierce determination allowed them to overcome the obstacles that Mother Nature hurled at them. As they camped out, with their lovely assistants close at hand (but not too close), a tornadic storm ripped through the area, felling trees and mobile homes. Peter and Mountain Man and Shazaam laughed in the face of the incipient danger as they snuggled [editor's note: snuggled??] close together in their very tiny tent. They took the tiny tent because they graciously allowed their lovely assistants to slumber in the palatial mansion tent next door. They arose early the next morning, before the sun, as the tornadic disturbance thundered on. They donned their armor and made for the battlefield. Unfortunately, the battle was postponed several hours. Eventually they commenced and proved their valor, securing their undying position in the mythological hall of fame. Mountain Man also permantly secured the affections of his lovely assistant, Surfer Chick.
Stay tuned for this year's adventures...we expect wine, women, and song to be prominently featured.
One of Those Days
Ever had a peculiar day where all the normal systems of the world seemed to be on the fritz? That was yesterday - avoided three accidents that had just happened. Went to get my tires rotated, and a few miles down the road one of my hubcaps fell off (no sign of the wire loop that keeps the hubcap on, so I suspect that the people at the tire place broke it). Went to get my oil changed, and the line at a normally calm time of day was about 2 hours long. Drove 20 miles to get Geico to check out my car (the day after my mom died I was hit-and-runned getting on the southbound service road of Central at Parker), and it turns out they had accidentally forgotten to tell me that they made the appointment for next week! Went to the bookstore to try to listen to some of my church history tapes, and ended up being accused by a delusional drunk man sipping booze through out of an Arby's cup of being a member of the FBI/CIA and recording everything that he was saying. Thankfully, the last event of the day was a Bible study focusing on Acts 2 and reminding me after a long day that Jesus Christ has died, been raised, and now reigns as Lord and King from the right hand of the Father (and that means that hubcaps, lines, appointments, and drunk people are all somehow part of his plan and my sanctification!).
Buenas noches. No nos queda mucho tiempo hasta que se termina el semestre! Solamente los debiles duermen.
The end of all things
Today is the "reading day" (and turn paper in day) before finals week. After finals week, I'll be attending graduation and probably head in a TX direction circa the 19th or 20th. Looks like the London trip isn't going to happen this summer, sadly, but a Peru/Mexico trip looks like a definite possibility! Back to the books (and papers)!
Library Pilgrimage
Yesterday I went to the Covenant Seminary, Chesterfield Public, Washington University, and Saint Louis University libraries to return and pick up books, so if you are in St. Louis and need a tour of any of the libraries, give me a call! My campus preference is definitely Washington University, which has spacious quads and ornate buildings. My library preference is still up in the air, though I think I would have to opt for St. Louis University at this point - they have more comfortable chairs, a curious three level divinity library known as the "annex," and they have their books on normal shelves (as opposed to Washington University, which has those collapsible shelves that slide back and forth and always make one wonder whether he might get unwittingly crushed by someone looking for a book a few "aisles" down). Naturally, Covenant tops the list when it comes to an easily usable theological reference section, since they are set up for seminarians (although this comparison should really be made with Concordia seminary, since the other libraries are set up for undergrads).
PS - In answer to my dad's question about the origins of May day, one website reports the following..."The victim of mayhem might shout "mayday," although a simple "help!" would be more effective, and never realize that he or she was speaking French. "Mayday," which is the international radio distress call used by ships and airplanes, is actually an Anglicized form of the French "m'aider," which means "help me." The original phrase was "venez m'aider," which means "come help me," but the "mayday" version probably gained currency because of its distinctive sound, easily recognized above the static and noise of long-distance radio transmissions. Of course, the fact that the French word for "help me" happened to sound like our English "Mayday," a traditional celebration of the coming of Spring held on May 1st, helped speed its adoption."
The end of all things is near
Hello gentle readers. As noted above, the end of all things is near - with papers to grind out and finals coming up, it may be difficult to do interviews with the same frequency as the last week, but keep checking! I still have to get housemates Jeff, Mark, and Aaron, and that could be interesting! For your reference if you are just checking out the tri blog for the first time, we now have interviews with (from top to bottom) Sara, Ken, Cousin Jamison, Aubrey/Jeff, and Kristin (the latter two have a few Sephardic interludes between them). Thanks to Jeff C. for submitting a question and indicating that we have at least one reader! I haven't had a chance to check out that link, Jeff, but I hope to soon! PWD
Well, the gig at the church in Edwardsville turned out to be a Wednesday night "missionary report" service, and I had a great time. Turns out that the missionaries and the pastor of the church and I had many friends in common. Tonights agenda - Enjoy some time with all of the North Texas Presbytery folks here on campus (a couple of NTP elders are in town for the seminary board meeting) and do lots of homework! Perhaps around 7:30 (for those of you who are still interested in the triathlon title), I'll head over to the YMCA for another test run of our "sprint tri" distances. Jeff, unfortunately, won't be joining me because he is "networking" at home in Colorado with his presbytery!
Today's Sephardic song lyric (really a beautiful sounding song, though the translation is a bit peculiar):
Y Una Madre (And A Mother)
Yes, his mother was devouring him,
yes, her beloved son.
-Look, mother, at these eyes
that so often our law have read.
And do not devour me,
your beloved son.
-Look, mother, at this forehead,
on which so often the tefillin have reposed.
-Look, mother at this mouth,
that so often our law has read.
[You'll remember that the Sephardic Jews "are descendants of the large Jewish community living in Spain and Portugal in the Middle Ages. Forcibly expelled from those countries in 1492, many settled in The Netherlands. Sephardic Jews never lost their identity and are found living all over the world today" (from a random website) and that the tefillin would be little pouches or boxes with Hebrew scriptures in them that would be bound to the body in a literalistic interpretation of the Pentateuchal command].
I wonder what the poor chap did to cause his mother to seek to devour him?
It's cold here.
I am now back in St. Louis, after an all evening/night drive from St. Louis on Sunday. Monday was a chilly, but nice day characterized by unpacking, sleep, picking up Ellen Barnett at the airport, and hanging around with Ellen and Maggie Gonzalez for their initial meal/worship service as they began their second "residency" on their way to getting their M.A's in General Theological Studies (they call it something else now, so as not to have an acronymn that sounds like "maggots"). Today was characterized by some sleep, grocery shopping, a mission conference meeting, copying/trifolding/stuffing about 500 mission conference brochures, and a trip to Borders to read FF Bruce's "Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free" and a few chapters of Acts. I could hardly find a place to sit in the cafe because several of the tables were taken up by backgammon players, one of whom was an engineer at Washington University who was simultaneously playing two games!
But this is a Triathlon blog, so let me say that this week in STL it is ridiculously cold. Tomorrow the high is supposed to be 21 and the low is negative 6. I took my winter jacket over to Maggie (don't worry, I have a backup), who with her Acapulcan sensibilities would be in danger of turning into a gigantic icicle tomorrow. Needless to say, outdoor training is probably "out" for the next few days, and tomorrow I'll be forced to go to the YMCA to put in a few hundred meters of swimming and some miles on the treadmill. I took a spin around the block this afternoon using my new biking shoes, and it felt great to have power on my "upstrokes" as well as to go up and down some slight hills. Great, that is, until the wind started to have its way with my fingertips and face!