Mexico Trip Day 1

Today, Amber and I, along with our friends Adam, Beth, and Kandice set foot in Mexico City for the first time. For the most part, everything went well and good, the exception being that Orbitz changed our tickets so that Amber and I ended up taking a flight to Mexico from Houston two hours later than the rest of the group. So, we sat around and ate airport food while our friends flew, and well, then they did the same thing while we flew. But if that is the worst thing that happens to us during the trip we ought to be pretty thankful!!

We are staying at a Quaker hostel that is quite interesting to say the least. The building used to be the home of a famous mural artist, and needless to say, it has seen its better days. But it is close to the city center and we are looking forward to all that we are going to see in the next couple days.

Tonight, we walked around a bit to get our bearings and just a couple blocks from our hostel there was a Christmas fair that was, no doubt, influenced by the many fair games that one can find at Six Flags or state fairs in America but with Mexican food instead of elephant ears and fried bananas instead of fried mozzarella sticks.

After walking, we made our way to a Mexican restaurant that we could trust called VIPS (right next to a KFC and Burger King!), which crazily enough is chain in Mexico that is owned by Walmart... yeah, not your typical authentic Mexican... but it WAS good!

Needless to say, we are all very tired and the majority of our group has deserted me and headed off to their rooms. Hopefully I will write more later on in the week!

Getting Old... Well At Least Feeling Old

So, on Monday my brother Brogan, Matt Baldauff, and I went downhill skiing in celebration of his birthday (his girlfriend Coty surprised him with a drive all the way out to Pittsburgh). Now don't get me wrong, I love downhill skiing. My family used to go to Michigan in the winter every year when we were kids and even went out to Utah on a couple occasions where my uncle lives. But this was the first time I had gone skiing for nearly two years, and well, graduate school is not conducive to staying in optimum physical shape. Not only that, the ski resort decided to leave their snow makers on the entire time we were there. After every run, my body was covered in a thin layer of ice. Fake snow is more wet (and often quickly turns into ice), and thus, is not the most enjoyable to ski through. So, needless to say, I STILL ache all over. My thighs hurt, my lower back hurts, my knees hurt from getting my legs turned in directions they weren't meant to be turned, the side of my right leg hurts where I skidded down the mountain a couple times, and lots of other things hurt... But it was still fun to be out there!

In fact, we've had quite the slew of visitors of late. Last weekend, my parents were here and we showed them the town and took them to Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous work, Fallingwater - a house he built for a wealthy Pittsurgh family right over a stream. We also went to the 17th St. Cafe on the Southside of Pittsburgh and all agreed that we ate the best meal we had had in years. Below are some pictures from that trip.

Then, this last weekend, my brother Bryce and his friend Diana came out to visit. We took them up to one of our favorite spots, Mount Washington, which offers the best view of the Pittsburgh skyline - one of the best in America. Take a look and see why we like it so much:

A Sigh of Relief

So today I turned in my papers as my last work for my first semester of grad school. Now its 'wait and see' to find out what kind of grades I will receive. Grad school has been a a great experience thus far. I much rather write papers than take tests, and getting back into the work of researching and articulating ideas has been a lot of fun. Not that I understand everything - far from it. Aristotle's Metaphysics has kicked my butt all semester long, but as a result, I've learned a TON regarding its influence on Christian theology (taking Aquinas this semester at the same time helped, no doubt) and even how we think today. Having to read Aristotle in Greek has was not too exciting, but I've experienced the pay off as it has greatly increased my ability to read the New Testament in Greek.

In other news, I've been offered a graduate assistantship at Duquesne. This is not a teaching assistantship - actually its more of an office job doing paperwork. Nonetheless, it comes with a nice stipend and payment of my tuition along with some good experience. On the other hand, I had just started a job at a nearby coffee shop and was beginning to enjoy the change of pace, learning new skills, and meeting all kinds of people. I've just been amazed at all the spiritual conversations I've already had with coworkers, which has made me lament that sacred/secular dichotomy in so many churches where "ministry" is relegated to only what goes on in the church walls.

So now... a couple weeks "off" - which means Christmas shopping, entertaining family that is coming to visit, working here and there, etc - and then home for Christmas. Then, Amber and I along with a few friends from Indy are off to Mexico City for a bit of a vacation! I'll have to post some pictures when we get back.

Tom Brokaw and Younger Evangelicals

If you missed it, check out the special on the Emerging Church that aired November 30th on the NBC Nightly News. Unfortunately, most of the special came down to the question of homosexuality and a commentary by Al Mohler. At least they rightly described younger evangelicals as a group far less myopic and one-sided as the previous generation as far as political views go.