I've known a lot of people in my life concerned with the safety of Jeeps. The open-air can be a bit unnerving, but I've always said - "That's why we have roll-bars!" This guy, however is going a bit far to prove that Jeeps won't kill you, especially if you have super-hero clinging power!

Today I posted a new design for the blog. Hope you like it.

If you can't get something done right, do it yourself.

I had really wanted a prie dieu that would fit my needs for quite some time. Most of them were over $400, at least the nice ones. The rest tended to be tacky. I made this one last night. I even made the cushion. It's based on a design used by the Order of Julian of Norwich in Waukesha. When I saw theirs, I was impressed by its simplicity and function. I also liked the flat top on it. My design is modified slightly, with an angular shelf (so that books don't fall out), a detached cushion rather than a tacked one, and even better - it's made to fit me! Total cost of materials - about 70 dollars - not bad!

My good friend Rob put together a website yesterday. Some funny stuff.

The Book of Kells
I'm auditing a course here at the House called Foundations of Anglo-Saxon Spirituality. It's really a great course. We've been going over the Celts and their overall spirituality. This is a page from the Book of Kells. The Book is an incomplete biblical manuscript that dates to 800 A.D. It was produced by Irish monks at the famous island of Iona. It is hand-transcribed on vellum, which is lambskin. It is one of the great examples of Irish ingenuity and artwork from the time period. Historically, it shows the extent to which trade relations and contact with other Christians had gone around that time, namely because of the trade required to procure its exotic inks. The ornate nature of the Book of Kells gives us insight into Celtic spirituality. They saw the reality of God in everything. They were obsessed with numbers - the four gospels, the three of the Trinity, the four winds, the four cardinal points, the 12 apostles, the seven days of the week. As well, the Celts had a great attention for detail.

Did I tell you AbeBooks.com is my favorite website? I just got a couple of beautiful books from them, and it didn't cost me much at all. Woohoo!

Back at Nashotah... the low is supposed to be -7 degrees tonight - and no snow on the ground. What's up with that? I thought Wisconsin was supposed to be cold enough so that you would have to go 3 months without seeing the ground.

One more problem with the cold - I went to crank up my Volvo tonight. Looks like it's gone into hibernation. I'll be waking it up tomorrow.

Installed an xServe yesterday. Here's the pics of the setup served by the xServe itself.

Today is the feast of Antony of Egypt. Antony was the son of a wealthy farmer on the upper Nile. He was in church one day and heard the story of the rich young ruler.

After this, he decided to renounce his inheritance and at age 20, he gave all of it to the poor. He placed his sister in a community of virgins and placed himself in the care of a hermit. He moved across the Nile to a place where he spent the next twenty years. In the last fifty years, Antony emerged from seclusion to guide and counsel others in the church, even going to Alexandria. He was one of the chief apologists against the Arians.

His asceticism was rigorous. Most of what we know of Antony is collected in St. Athanasius' Life of Antony.

Antony would keep vigil to such an extent that he would often go the whole night without sleep. He ate once a day. Many times he would fast as much as 4 days. He would eat bread and salt and water. It is said that he fought with Satan himself, and was left beaten and tired, but not dead.

The Scriptures, he told his followers, were sufficient guides, armed with the power to overthrow demons.

Antony is generally considered to be the founder of the monastic movement, a movement which has been the foundation of Christian Spiritual Life for the past 1600 years.

Today's minor feast is in honor of Aelred, Abbot of Rievaulx. Aelred was a Cistercian monk and founder of the great Abbey at Rievaulx. The Cistercians of the day had a great habit of taking the swamps and dark forests of their lands and turning them into places of beauty. Rievaulx is considered to have been the Citeaux of England, and it was certainly a center of English Spirituality from the 12th Century onward.

I'm in College Station this week, visiting friends and working on my New Testament workbook. This is me in my old stomping ground, the MSC Flagroom. It's cool. It has wireless, so I can post to my blog without even plugging in to anything.

If you live in College Station and would like to have lunch or something, call me at 817-657-5969.

sorry bout the lack of input so far - call it a vacation. there will be more.