Dad took me fishing while we were in VA for the Christmas holidays. We went out past the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel to the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, some 17 miles out. The striper were hitting the bait fish on the surface, and we caught several. My biggest was this 37 inch, 18 pound striper caught on a shad lure. Thanks for the fun, Dad!
Game: First Impressions of Hansa
Eric and Karen also bought us the board game Hansa. It's a buying and selling sort of game set in the 15th century Baltic cities. The primary challenge of the game never having enough resources to do everything I want to do. The rules are not really that hard, but they are a bit difficult to pick up. We spent our first game just getting used to the mechanics. I don't think my 7 year old could pick up this game.
The game itself is both fun and challenging, but it is short-term, since you can't do much to prepare for the future. And you can't even plan your next turn, since the board will probably change as the other players move.
Rating: good game.
Game: First Impressions of For Sale
Eric and Karen bought us the card game For Sale for Christmas. It's both simple and short. The game has 2 phases. The first uses a bidding mechanism to buy houses; the second uses a bluffing mechanism to sell them. The mechanics are simple enough that my 5 year old should be able to learn, but there's enough complexity to keep adults thinking. It looks to be both a great game for the whole family and for introducing non-gamer friends to the genre of German games.
Game: Keesdrow Deluxe
A friend bought our family Keesdrow Deluxe as a Christmas present. We sat down today as a family to play it. It's essentially Scrabble meets Boogle. If you like making works like Boogle on a board that looks like Scrabble, you'll like this game.
Testing Windows Live Writer (Beta)
Although I own my own domain, I blog using Blogger, which makes posting my blog entries very easy. The default way to post is to log in at the Blogger website and use their web-based editor. But web-based editors like this are usually short on features, not to mention inconvenient. What I need is a blog editor that is its own Windows program.
For the last couple years I've used w.bloggar. It's ok. It works. But it's quirky to say the least. And probably 20% of the time it tells me it can't submit the post to my website. I have no idea why. Maybe it's not even w.bloggar's fault, but it sure is annoying. So I've been on the lookout for a new editor.
Then I found Windows Live Writer. It's a new blog editor from Microsoft. Although designed to work with Live Spaces, it works with a variety of other blogs as well. So I'm giving it a try. So far so good.
Now let's see if this baby can actually publish to my blog...
Studies in James
I continue to study and write my way through the book of James. I'm writing my own Sunday School curriculum for the book, and then I'm teaching from it. I've finished through chapter 3. Hmmm, 18 lessons to get through 3 chapters - that's not exactly your typical Sunday School quarterly. But then, that's the point. ;-)
Photo: Jacen and Halo 2
We had some friends over recently, a family with two girls (plus one more that tagged along). Somehow Jacen persuaded all three of them to play Halo 2 with him. Unbelievable. But even 1-on-3 he took them. That's my boy!
Challenges to truth
John MacArthur sums up the challenges to truth from the last 45 years:
- 60's & 70's - Inerrancy - The Bible has errors, said the liberals.
- 80's & 90's - Sufficiency - The Bible needs help, said the charismatics and the Christian psychologists
- late 90's & earlier 00's - Relevance - The Bible is not a priority, said the seeker-sensitivers.
- 00's - Perspicuity - The Bible is unclear so truth is unneeded, said the emergant churchers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)