...In Which Nathan Discovers an Unfortunate Reaction to Bagels

Quesadilla makers.  I can see no use for such a contraption, except in a situation much like our own.  For untold decades, quesadillas have been fried on a pan.  But now, a miniature griddle? Just for the cheese-n-tortilla loving college going crowd? Go get yourself a Foreman Grill, people.

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Bagels can kill.  If you don't believe me, rewind the clock back to 8:45 this morning.  Here, I'll retrieve the events as they occured from the UW Big Brother database:

SQL:QUERY> SELECT Time,Event FROM UW_BB_Student_Events_Sep_30_09 WHERE StudentName='Nathan Armstrong' AND Time>0845 AND Time<0900

0845 - Nathan Armstrong is leaving Lander Hall, heading towards Red Square
0852 - Nathan Armstrong has reached Red Square, heading towards Free Bagel tent on far side
0853 - Nathan Armstrong has reached Free Bagel tent and is picking up a cinnamon raisin bagel.
0853 - Nathan Armstrong is consuming a cinnamon raisin bagel.
0854 - Nathan Armstrong is leaving Red Square, heading back to Lander Hall while consuming bagel.
0854 - Nathan Armstrong is realizing that the bagel is dry without cream cheese or other similar toppings.
0856 - Nathan Armstrong is gagging on the bagel, having put too much in his mouth at once.
0859 - Nathan Armstrong is arriving at the dorm, with half the bagel gone.

The bagel industry is hazardous! We must bring it down before it wrecks our environment and destroys the local pigeon population.  My esophagus is at least five times the size of a pigeon's, and look what it did to me! This must END NOW!

But besides the choking, it was a very good bagel.

Classes all began relatively well.  This looks like it will actually be a relative light quarter, even though it's a 16-credit load, and Linear Analysis is going to be a royal pain.  But I kind of expected that.  And having met three people from OC today, I'm really quite happy.  Cameron Webster, who I mentioned earlier, is in the Linear Analysis class as well; I took Differential Equations, the prequel to Linear Analysis, with him as well, so we may end up working together on some projects.

Route planning... all went out the window.  On my way from the Fishery Sciences building to Mueller Hall, I had planned on crossing a bridge right in front of the Medical Center.  I got to the bridge, only to find out the only way to get there was to go into the hospital.  I didn't want to get more hopelessly lost than I was at the moment, so I glanced at the map.  I crossed the street at a nearby fork-intersection, ran down a couple dirt paths, and made it just as class starts.  Lesson learned: scope out bridges before crossing them.  You never know when one of those things will crumble on your head.

I decided to return to the beginning of Galatians, which I skipped last time due to over-excitement.  Paul makes a very interesting note right off the bat: he is an apostle, "not from men nor through man".  This seems a little vague, until we look at verse 11, which extends that claim: "For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel."  He's emphasizing the fact that the Gospel was not given by men; this wasn't an invention of the apostles.  He had received it directly from Christ: Acts 9 and Galatians 1:12 make this very clear.  He's trying to defend against those who claim that Paul invented the Gospel he's preaching, or that he is following a man.  This would match the 'different gospel' he mentions later, one that perhaps tries to downplay Christ as fully God, and tries to push the idea that Paul found the gospel through simple, deceitful men.  He certainly comes into this book with, if I may use this term, 'fists flying'.