Countdown to Patmos

It has been a while since I last posted but I just haven't felt like it. This has been a tough semester in school and I'm feeling pretty worn out. We have a couple of weeks to go in the semester and I'll get a break from classes. However, by the time fall rolls around, I'll be ready to start up again.

The good news is that the trip to Patmos is on (our hotel is pictured here). We are making preparations for travel and will leave on May 18. We'll spend a day or so in Athens, Greece before catching an 8 hour ferry ride to Patmos. After resting on Sunday, We will start photographing manuscripts on Monday the 22nd and spend our time there taking the photographs, processing the images, and burning DVDs with the pictures. We will also have some time to tour Patmos and enjoy ourselves some. When our project is done, we will return to Athens for a couple of days before flying home on June 7th.

One of my assignments on this trip will be to keep a journal of my time there. If I am able to have access to the internet on Patmos, I will post some updates to this site as I go. Otherwise, I will try to post a series of entries after I return to Athens. At any rate, my goal is to share my experience here at some point.

Manuscript Happenings

Plans are beginning for a visit to Patmos. This Saturday night I am attending a fundraiser for the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts. I will be there as a representative of the team going to Patmos to photograph manuscripts. I expect some kind of official announcement about the trip then. Last week the photographs of a Codex Alexandrinus facsimile that I assisted with have been posted on the CSNTM website. It's exciting to hear the response to these photographs being posted online. The high resolution photos are a real benefit to the community that is dedicated to studying these ancient documents.

A Word for Today
Codex Alexandrinus - 5th century Greek Biblical manuscript containing the Old Testament and most of the New Testament. It is housed in the British Library.

The Short Trip Home

Last Friday I had 4 wisdom teeth pulled and now I'm on the mend. I haven't had any major problems, but I am still sore and I have a major bruise from the IV. I figure it'll be a couple of weeks before I'm feeling back to normal. Looking back, the trip home must have been interesting for Ashley. First of all, I had a mouth full of gauze and still thought I could talk, plus I was still drifting in and out of consciousness. After dropping off my prescription, I asked Ashley to go to the BlookShlop for a maghashine. So we drove around a bit and went back to Walgreen’s for my meds. Ashley had me write my request on a piece of paper this time. I wanted some pomegranate green tea (which I do like). You might think I wouldn't be thinking straight enough to write but I actually provided way more information than she needed, down to the price per bottle for the tea. I'm surprised I didn't list the ingredients too. Finally we stopped by McDonalds for a shake (my lunch). I was slumped over asleep in the passenger seat with my cheeks stuffed with gauze and a small line of blood coming from the corner of my mouth. In hindsight, the drive-thru worker at McDonalds must have wondered if Ashley had slugged me. All of this is vague to me so I had to ask Ashley about the trip home. On a positive note, it doesn't appear that the "wisdom" part of the teeth means anything.