Tag! You're it baggy eyes...

My wife told me about the book meme she had posted on her blog last night, so I figured I would join in. I chose to wait until I was at my office to do it (I had a specific book in mind.)

Here's the rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. No cheating!
2. Find page 123
3. Find the first 5 sentences
4. Post the next 3 sentences
5. Tag 5 people

Unfortunately, the book I had in mind was not the closest one when I started typing this blog entry. So I'll stick with the honest response and pick up Ellen Grigsby's "Analyzing Politics: An Introduction to Political Science" 3rd ed.

For example, fascism is presented as an ideology that opposes pacifism. Pacifism rests on the notion that countries can and should coexist peacefully and resolve disputes by nonviolent means. Pacifism is peace seeking and peace building.

Interestingly enough, my Intro class just finished our unit on Fascism. I was observed by the VP of Academic Affairs on the day I gave a reading quiz on the Fascist chapter (the chapter was about fascism, not the chapter openly sought to control my political, economic and social life through brute force in the name of the state). I will meet with him next week to discuss his observations. He actually took the quiz; however, he only got 7 out of 10 right. He has a Ph.D in history and has recently taught college courses on WWI and WWII, but he didn't read the chapter ahead of time. Still, he did say that he took some issue with getting only 7 right. I'll let you know how things go.

Hopefully he won't bury me in the cold cold ground,
Brad

Lights, camera, action!

Well, I got to sleep in because none of my seminary students were coming today. The good side of that is 2 extra hours of sleep. The bad side is that I didn't have time to shave this morning before I had to leave. In addition to my 2+ days growth I haven't had a haircut in well over a month (and my last cut was just the "edge" around the ears and neck.) So I was looking a little shaggy and scruffy. I wouldn't normally mind that for a Wednesday - I only teach 1 smaller class and the only other people I see are faculty or staff for meetings. But today...

I knew I was going over to the TV Studio on campus for what I thought was just a "prep" for my televised presentation, "Madame Secretary of State: Madeline Albright and Condoleezza Rice," on Friday, March 14th. Of course not, that would be too easy. It ended up being a recording session for a 2-3 minute interview with Dean Richard Strada about my presentation for an "ad" spot on OCC's cable channel. I did really well. Despite being very nervous (I can speak in front of 35 kids at a time, three times a day, or 400 people in a lecture hall and do just fine - but three cameras scare me?) my interview came off smoothly and appeared very natural (I hadn't prepared anything - but I know the topic well enough to fake it.) It's probably better to look bad and sound smart....



The alternative is just scary,
Brad

Very, very, busy...

I've decided to start posting again (before I go more than a month between posts!)
Last week I biked to work twice (and home once - my dear wife and boys picked me up on a particularly late and windy day.) This week I should be able to bike to and from work four times. Today I had a nice tailwind biking in; however, the wind has picked up and is still blowing from the same direction. I guess I'll get to experience the "fascist headwinds" as one of my favorite bloggers calls them.

I've introduced our department's office managers to Google calender. It has been so helpful in scheduling my program coordinator responsibilities (no more going back and forth between offices with paper calenders.)

Well, I need to head out or I'll never get home in time for dinner and ward choir.

I should probably block off a regular time to blog on my Google calender,
Brad