10.18.07 Lecture

2.22 Troxel enters, dressed in a red plaid button up shirt, top button undone, khaki pants. Nice hair.

2.25 Some music begins to play. Sources say its "Big Girls Don't cry" by Rehanna.

2.28 A student approaches the podium and asks Troxel a question, presumably about Hittites or something, and Troxel leans puppy dog eyes, chin in his hands, and smiles. Hughes wonders how she did not melt right before our eyes. From here Troxel moves to the seating area and leans in to field another question, charming.

2.29 Rather than a traditional start to lecture, Troxel relates to the young folk by eplaining that we share common musical interest. We enjoy the musical stylings of "House odf the Rising Sun" from his day, while he crosses over and gets down to his fav jam "Big Girls Don't Cry". Troxel is also a noted Shaggy fan.

2.34 Right when you think Troxel has hit his academic stride, out comes the personal touch (he's on fire today). A train whistle blows and our dear Professor states "I've never heard the train so close, I wonder if its still on the tracks." (light laughter)

2.35 Disappointing development: TA Jonathan Wylie is sitting behind us today, this means it will be very difficult to track his movements. Further, it also means he very well may be looking at this screen noting that I am not taking notes.

2.36 We have Hebrew script on the screen and Troxel is daring to suggests a re-translation of the NRSV. He states the original language and the context have been misread. Bold.

2.39 Very little animation in the powerpoint thus far today. I used to have a theory that Troxel spent most of his time updating and enhancing his Powerpoint slides, I've instead come to learn most of his time is spent on Z104 and high school soccer.

2.40 We are barely ten minutes in and Dave Vandenlangenberg is already asleep. Weak.

2.45 We've moved on to an examination of 1 and 2 Kings, started off with Troxel's standard intrduction slide making us aware that his lecture is indeed "Copyrighted".

2.46 Dave Vandenlangerbergersmith wakes up and doesn't even try to pretend he's wasn't just asleep. He's now eating a giant Kit-Kat or something like that.

2.48 David (the king) has been adduced. Good to know.

2.54 The phrase "rump-state" is being tossed around like nobaody's business. No explanation has been given as to want a "rump-state" is, was, or will be.

2.55 Wikipedia informs us that a rump state is the remnant of a once larger nation or government. Just when you think Troxel has gone all potty mouth, turns out he's still a genius.

2.58 Jeroboam is David's anti-type both in his actions and in the way that others follow his pattern. I wonder who Troxel's anti-type is . . . Stalin?

3.01 We have a text heading at the top of the screen, then blank until the bottom third where the text appears. I can't wait so see what he will use to fill in the gap, here it comes. . . . (waiting for the significance) . . . . (still waiting) . . . . .

3.03 So we have a lot of words on the screen. Something about Deuteronmy, I'm feeling a little let down to be honest.

3.04 Dave Vandenjohnsonjoneenberg has ditched out. We miss him already.

3.05 We have colors. A left to right chart of colored boxes representing the first 11 books of the Hebrew Bible the colors range from a light yellow to a deep violet. And now they're gone, lots of words again.

3.07 Troxel is using the phrase Uriah the Hittite (who in Troxel's words was involved in "that whole Bathsheba thing"), which is pretty fun to say (or looks like it would be) but we're going to take a break to grab some pics of the people behind us.

3.08 Development: Troxel leans in elbows on the podium to explain the fish-i-ness by which Saul's role as the first king is being ignored.

3.10 We're talking about "anatomically mixed" beasts.

3.11 Troxel forgot the word "tablets." Pauses and eggs himself on with some hand motions, then asks the class "Somebody help me out?" He got a little flustered there. Now, of course, fully recovered and back on track.

3.12 Leaning in again, interlocked fingers, really getting into this.

3.13 We have a picture of Wylie, but its not pretty, just a little tiny portion of his head. Plus, the people behind us saw me take a picture of them and now are pretty freaked out. However, we do learn from the small visible portion of Wylie's head that he appears to be fully alert today. Good work.

3.14 Shout out to Jon Tong!

3.15 Repeated pointing at the screen. Troxel could be making a rousing political speech, beckoning troops to war, inspiring the trailing team in a Super Bowl locker room, there are no limits on his inspirational abilities. I feel warm inside just witnessing this. Now was have a wide stanced hand reaching out toward the audience.

3.17 The Northern Kingdom was nothing but a bunch of "ne'er-do-wells". A strong Southern bias. Blogger is worried about his grade since he has no idea what any of this means . . . (eh)

3.18 Scary flashback to a past lecture. Troxel highlights the word "high places", we spent about 45 minutes on this concept one lecture and everyone was left clueless as to their significance.

3.21 Hezekiah has been officially declared as "the best ruler ever" by Troxel. High praise. Problem: Josiah is also totally like the best king ever. Who's the best best?

3.25 Not only has a question dared to be asked. But the phrase "I don't think that's a convincing argument" was trown down. We have a direct challenge people. Visions of Jon Highness dance through the heads of all.

3.27 Words are coming out of Troxel's mouth at a fascinating rate. He speaks from the perspective of someone from the Southern kingdom and even sounds a little bit like he genuinely impassioned himself. Is he pissed off at the Northern Kingdom still?

3.28 Oh my! Troxel finishes his explanation and she has not found satisfaction in his respose. WHOA! He's been off track for so long now that the PowerPoint switched off and in the absense of that image we get a view of the camera labeled "WolfVision." I love wolves.

3:29 Troxel responds to the challenge but upon finishing refuses to ask the questioner again "if this is clear." Instead, he moves on and asks for other questions. I feel like he got a little overwhelmed there, especially when the WolfVision came on.

3.31 He has returned to a calm composed stance. In fact, he is now casually sitting on a tab le in the front of the room, feet dangling. Friendly, explanatory hand motions. Really, quite approachable. You could just climb right up onto his lap.

3.32 Back to the PowerPoint.

3.36 Shanti Mathew has just entered the room! She's not even in the class! Plus, as she came in she got to hear a classic Troxelism: "Is this clear?"

3.39 Its getting late in the hour and Troxe's vocal cords may be getting tired. Perhaps his nerves also, as he addressed the crowd asking for "people's concentrated attention." His concern is that other people may be distracted.

3.40 Speaking of distractions, the girls two rows in front of me is wearing a shirt that says "SARS" on the back. Is this some sort of nickname? Really? I mean, it probably is not a reference to the airborne disease, but what if it is??

3.41 Mike gets really, really excited that the passage mentioned wizards. He probably wants me to write something all about it. Here's what I'll write. Mike is a nerd. Josiah never played Quiddich. Nor did Ahab.

3.43 Were closing out here, lots of text being turned through very quickly. The word "moreover" is being used repeateadly. And at least we have the appearance of the text as highlighting itself. Does Troxel have telepathic powers? Maybe Troxel is a wizard? Do you think he knows Dumbledore? Mike hopes so.

3.45 Manasseh is the Jeroboam of the North. What a jerk.