Daily Update

Weight: 226

Currently Reading (fiction): The Templar Legacy, Steve Berry. Yet another Da Vinci Code knock off, and uncannily similar to Raymond Khoury’s The Last Templar, which was published at practically the same time. These two books not only have the same basic plot (modern academics searching for ancient Templar knowledge/artifacts with a group of crazed bad guys trying to beat them to it), but the two books even use the same opening quote, by Pope Leo X...“It has served us well, this myth of Christ.”

Currently Reading (non-fiction): Walking the Bible, Bruce Feiler.

Currently Listening To: The copier running.

Rush Lyric of the Day: Sliding back to consciousness, the coldness grips my skin.

Hailey Update: She told us last night that the reason she hasn’t been doing her schoolwork while at school is because she is afraid people will say “Good job.” So rather than draw attention to herself by doing her work, she prefers to just not do it.

School Update: I met with an admissions counselor at Spencerian last night, and am going to start taking classes in Radiology Technology starting on Tuesday. I should have my X-ray tech license by next fall, which will allow me to work in doctor’s offices or urgent treatment centers, doing x-rays, and at that time I can roll over into the digital scanning program, which will take an additional 15 months. When I’m through with that, I will be able to work in hospitals and clinics doing things like MRI’s, CT scans, and mammograms. I’m intimidated by all this, but I’m also excited. I think that this is something that I will enjoy, and it will give me job security for the rest of my career, as well as good money.

Money Update: Please make checks out in $1,000 intervals, made payable to me.

Lake Update: We went to the lake this weekend and stayed at the same house where we stayed back in August. There was very nice weather this time around (unlike last time, when it rained), and the temperature was perfect. We got out on the lake and also had a nice time back at the house. I got a lot of reading done while in the hot tub. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera, so I didn’t get any nice pictures.

Today in History, September 20:

1187 – The Siege of Jerusalem begins, in which Saladin recaptures Jerusalem for the Arabs. Jesus is pissed. Muhammed is happy.

1378 – The Western Schism begins in the Catholic Church when cardinals opposed to the new Roman Pope Urban VI elect Cardinal Robert of Geneva as Clement VII, based on Avignon, France. Clement is considered an anti-pope (which is not to be confused with “anti-poop” which refers to Immodium AD).

1486 – Birth of Prince Arthur, eldest son of Henry VIII. If not for his untimely death in 1502, there never would have been a succession crisis following Henry VIII’s death, and Queen Elizabeth would never have taken the throne.

1519 – Ferdinand Magellan embarks on his circumnavigation of the globe, leaving out of the same southern Spanish town that Columbus had left from on his third trip across the Atlantic (which is sometimes referred to in academic circles as Columbus’s Third Trip To Go Scare Up Some New World Tail).

1881 – Chester A. Arthur is sworn in as the 21st president of the United States, following the death the previous day of James Garfield from a July gunshot wound that had never healed.

1939 – A gunner inside an RAF Fairey Battle bomber shoots down a Messerschmitt BF 109, recording the RAF’s first aerial victory in World War II.

1967 – Birth of twins Gunnar and Matthew Nelson, who single-handedly tried to destroy rock music in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s by forming a “band” and calling what they did “music.”

1973 – Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes tennis match in Houston, Texas.

1973 – On the same day that Billie Jean beat Bobby, Jim Croce died in a plane crash north of Houston, in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

1993 – Death of Erich Hartmann, The Blonde Knight of Germany, who shot down a record 352 aircraft in World War II as a fighter pilot. He was shot down himself 14 times, but was never injured and was never forced to bail out. When asked what he was most proud of, as a fighter pilot, he replied that it was not his victories or his ability to escape injury, but rather the fact that he never lost a wingman. On the day he recorded his 300th victory, he shot down 11 total planes. He was one of only 27 Germans in World War II to receive the diamonds to his Knight’s Cross.

1998 – Cal Ripken, Jr. takes a voluntary day off after playing in 2,632 consecutive games.