wolfpack whitley

My wife has started a new blog since we've been on vacation. Check it out and enjoy her reads and pictures.

Check it out here.

Grace Nichole Couturier

Weighing in at 8lbs and 5oz and measuring 20.75" longs we have the newest member of our family, Grace Nichole. She was born at 11:38pm on 3 September 2008.

Testing the Test

I am back in classes and read this from G. K. Chesterton from his work The Common Man last night, so I'm sharing it with you to get your thoughts.

...man is always influenced by thought of some kind, his own or somebody else's; that of somebody he trusts or that of somebody he never heard of, thought at first, second or third hand; thought from exploded legends or unverified rumours; but always something with the shadow of a system of values and a reason for preference. A man does test everything by something. The question here is whether he has ever tested the test.

Intriguing question indeed. 

Do I think for myself? 

What is my test?

Do I test the test?

Do you test the test?

Jewish Apocalypticism in the Second Temple Period: Literature, Sociology and Theology

I have just finished my paper on Second Temple Jewish Apocalypticism. It is a bit of a broad overview of the topic. I have published it to GoogleDocs for anyone who is interested.

The paper can be found here.

Fantasy Cycling: Final Update

So, for those of you who have been checking back incessantly, so as to find out how my fantasy cycling team did...well, I'll give you a hint: I got beasted. Yep, that's pretty much how it went down, Trinity even did better than me. I had a few good stages, but nothing spectacular and overall in my league of 3 I was last place.

Next year will be better though. Next year...

Fantasy Cycling: Update 2

So, the first 4 stages of Le Tour de France are now done. Today was the individual time trial (ITT) and it shook things up quite a bit. I did much better today, though, earning 247 points by having 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 9th place as starters on my team today (you only get points when riders place in the top 15 riders on any particular stage).

After today's stage, though, the rosters get locked in everyone is reset to zero. In case anyone is wondering, my 15 riders are:

David Millar

Fabian Cancellara

Denis Menchov

George Hincapie

Damiano Cunego

Alejandro Valverde

Filippo Pozzato

Yaroslav Popovych

Robbie McEwen

Jens Voigt

Jose Ivan Gutierrez

Christopher Froome

Egoi Martinez

Inaki Isasi

David De La Fuente

It's not too late to join the fantasy cycling challenge. Just go here. However, you do need to put your team together before midnight tonight, as that's when it gets all locked up.

Fantasy Cycling: Update 1

So, after the first stage of the Tour de France I racked up a woping 46 points. You may be thinking, "Thomas, that doesn't sound too bad." Well, I would think that too, if the first place team didn't have 529 points and I weren't in 617th place.

Oh well, the first 4 stages are practice rounds. I'm trying to work out the kinks and be ready for stage 5.

More updates to come.