Monthly Archives: September 2010

Observations on not blogging for a week:   Partly, I’ve been busy. There was my one-day trip to London last week, and I had another staff person’s teaching to cover, plus the usual beginning-of-year meetings and bureaucratica. Partly, now that … Continue reading →

The advantage to leaving for work before 7:00 in the morning: you can cross Byres Road whenever you feel like it, regardless of the direction that the light favours. The disadvantage: I just said, “before 7:00 in the morning.”   … Continue reading →

The past two days have been very full, with classes starting (classes less thoroughly planned than I like), a variety of meetings and obligations and negotiations. Today I had two two-hour sessions scheduled, plus another hour that overlapped with one … Continue reading →

Today’s festivities in honour of my intellectual hero John Henry Newman provide not only an occasion to reflect on the nature of the university, the development of doctrine, biblical inspiration interpretation, friendship, and the authority of the papacy, but also … Continue reading →

The Theology/Religious Studies Department subject area rejiggered its curriculum last year, including a whole new Bachelor of Divinity curriculum and new first- and second-year offerings in biblical studies and theology. Since I teach in both the BD and the regular … Continue reading →

Margaret and I watched and listened to the Papal Mass yesterday — thank heaven, the weather treated Benedict XVI kindly — and I was pleased that he sent a blessing to those of us observing the service via teletransmission.   … Continue reading →

In one of those delightful moments, a student who had come by this morning to talk about writing a dissertation (UK = “senior thesis” US). After we had spent the better part of an hour clarifying the point of the … Continue reading →

The BBC television report concerning George Michael’s conviction on the charge of operating a vehicle under the influence of cannabis (George, not the vehicle) includes a clip from the Wham! video for “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go.”   … Continue reading →

Friday was a lovely day: it was my birthday, and Margaret was here with me; a startling number of people wished me Happy Birthday on Facebook and here; I had a delightful talk about pedagogy in the University with Margaret’s … Continue reading →

Margaret and I exercised a little this morning. Probably, nothing will come of it; but it did happen, and since there were no witnesses (so far as we know), it seemed worth noting here.

It’s no secret that pretty much everyone thinks Apple’s Ping feature in iTunes 10 would take significant improvement in order to qualify as a “disappointment,” and I doubt that any of what I suggest below hasn’t been anticipated (better) by … Continue reading →

This is what my last few days have been like:   Sunday: preach at St Aidan’s Clarkston, then pick Margaret up at the airport. Rapture! (As in “Oh, rapture!”, not as in Left Behind.)   Monday: take Margaret to St … Continue reading →