Joost Nixon reviews John Granger’s Looking for God in Harry Potter. Check it out!
http://www.stannespub.com/

Fiona took her first steps tonight. At least, the first steps that we are aware of. Megan was getting her shoes on in our bedroom, and Fiona was standing next to the bed, with one hand on it. Then she just took off towards Megan… three or four steps. She’s so deliberate about it, I wonder if she’s been able to walk for a while now, and has just been holding out on us.

She’s very excited about it. She gets a huge smile on her face (which displays the five teeth that have popped through in the last two weeks or so), and points at whatever she’s walking towards. Fun stuff.

this was posted at the .net…

Butterbeer:

1 pint of vanilla ice cream, softened
1/2 stick (4 tbsp) butter, room temperature
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 bottle (3 cups) sparkling apple cider

Allow ice cream to soften, about 30 minutes, and bring butter to room temperature, about 2 hours.

Cream together butter, sugar, and spices in large bowl. Add to ice cream and refreeze.

Heat sparkling cider in a pot until warm but still carbonated (at least 3 minutes). Fill each glass with a generous scoop of ice cream mixture and pour warmed cider over ice cream. It will foam like beer; hence the name.

Yield: 6 servings

“Nutrition” information (you don’t want to know, but here it is anyway!): 329 calories, 20 grams fat (12 g saturated, 55% fat calories) per 1/4-cup serving

We watched this a few weeks back.

Poor cat.

The Miscreant makes a point that is good to keep in mind:

Why no progress in the “debate”?

You can’t talk to people who think they are the gods of Asgard and that you are just a frost giant or a troll in disguise trying to get past the guardian of the Bifrost Bridge.

You know it is not debate but war when one side always covers up the other side’s progress in persuading them by simply ignoring their own change of position and inventing new arguments as if these were always at issue. At one time, saying that one entered the Church by baptism was treated as dangerous. Now it is simply agreed to without any memory of anything to the contrary said so confidently before. Count on it: within the year all of this will be conceded in Wilkin’s favor and an entirely new line of attack will be implemented without any admision of a shift.

That thread he links to, is in itself an example of the point his is making.

I’m signed up at monster.com to have an email sent each week with job openings in Lynchburg. There usually isn’t anything of interest for me, but I like to get it just in case.
But today had an interesting one, even though it’s actually in Roanoke:
Location:US-VA-Roanoke
Company:GE/Genworth Financial
Title:Black Belt

I guess it’s for all the kung fu fighting they do around there.