Lecture 11.13.07

2.24 I enter. The Trox is already up front, adorned in a cranberry shirt with two pens in his left breast pocket.
2.25 Projector on. What is going on!? His background has changed, now displaying what appears to be a number from a high school production of "Grease." My initial reaction is that his son was in a production of the show. Marc thinks he's toying with us now that he is aware of the blog. Will we be seeing multiple desktops just to provoke comment? I think not, but we will certainly see.
2.29 He's talking about us! I think I'm going to have a seizure! There is no way to describe the joy I am feeling now. I will spend the next couple of minutes trying to sum up the pure ecstasy of the past minute. He began lecture by stating something to the effect of "I'm sure that many of you have participated in sports or plays and have felt that the positive encouragement of your peers pushes you to your best... I have recently had my eyes opened by something to this effect as I have learned that someone in this class has been live blogging my lectures. This has really pushed me to bring my 'A Game' to class. [he begins his POwerpoint show. Multiple clipart graphics begin dropping into the page as words begin falling, spinning, dancing the wonderful dance of the powerpoint. It's like a symphony is unfolding before our eyes. The class is laughing, applauding, wetting ourselves. But he's not done yet. As the title slide begins to unveil it's glory behind him, Troxel begins to describe his attire: "I would call this a cranberry shirt (note: I did not edit my 2.24 post, but I, in fact, accurately guessed the hue of his shirt the first time), khaki pants (he puts his left leg up onto the table), with some (he details his shoes here, but I was laughing to hard to make out the description). The class applauds him for his relaxed demeanor in the face of what appears to be someone clearly stalking him online. Bravo, good sir, bravo.
2.38 He has been lecturing about Isaiah chapters 56-66 for the past eight minutes or so, but I'm pretty sure everyone has reliving the first few...WHA???
2.39 "Let's see what the blog has to say about my lecture today..." ( I frantically post my bloggings thus far) It takes a few seconds an d a couple of "refreshes" for the new post to appear. Then he begins reading the post out loud. HE is directly referring to Marc. The man is on fire. As he reads "I think I'm going to have a seizure..." He picks up a large red phone from under the podium. Did he plant that there? DId he know this was going to happen? I've said it before, I've said it again. THe man is a wizard. I swear, he just pushed a button and our blog popped up. It's like he hot-keyed it. He reads on to confirm that yes, in fact, his son was in a production of Grease. I was right. He continues on "...whoever Marc is, he is an extremely creative person." Jonathan speaks up from the back "I know who Marc is, Dr. Troxel." Trox: "Give him an A Jonathan."
2.45 I hesitate to continue to write about the blog itself, but as The majority of this post has been about it, I might as well continue. Marc is not a poster who chooses to write about himself in the third person every other lecture. Rather, there are two authors of this blog. I prefer to be a silent partner. (SEE PICTURE) I don't know how (stellar "cube" transition in the powerpoint) Marc will deal with this pressure. I don't even know how I'll deal with it. We're like U2 when Island signed them in 1980 and all of a sudden we're not this cute little band winning talent shows in Ireland, we're on an international stage.
2.49 HOw did Troxel find us? An unconfirmed source stated that Troxel had said "sometimes it pays to google your own name..." However, a quick google search does not yield this blog as a result. Perhaps he Google blog searched it? Or more likely, we have a rat. Wiley, I'm looking at you.
2.51 Let me try to pull my head out of the clouds and get back to lecture.
2.52 Map of the Near Middle East. There's some yellow circles that were clearly inserted by Troxel. Nice touch, T Daddy. I immediately regret calling him that.
2.54 Both Marc and I are still shaking with excitement.
2.55 Haggai and Zechariah. As the title slide transitions what is either a slide transition sound effect or a cell phone goes off. I'm almost certain that it's a cell phone, but there's room for hoping, isn't there?
2.56 Dave Vandenlangenberg (who is wearing glasses today!) would like to apologize for sleeping in lecture everyday. And I'd like to apologize for posting evidence of this on the internet. (I'm not actually sorry) He's eating what appears to be an energy bar now, so he'll stay awake. He's also looking at fanny packs on Amazon.
2.57 apparently Haggai was "practical", whereas Zechariah was more of a "visionary" Who do you think would be more fun to have at a party? Haggai wouldn't do anything weird or anything, he'd probably just kind of chill out. Zechariah would probally be more fun and zany, but he'd weird everyone out when he starts talking about fire consuming the Earth and what not. Call me a prude, but I'm going to go with Haggai.
2.59 A yellow ribbon appears above the text proclaiming that Zechariah is "apocalyptic literature". It's pretty.
3.04 Shocking! Haggai and Zechariah both exhibit eschiologal delay! I try to take a humorous picture exhibiting my "silent partner" commentary, it takes three takes and I feel like an idiot.
3.05 Today we've been working with mainly italicized red contrast text.
3.06 Dave is still awake.
3.07 The term "gettin' props" was just used. Subsequently, Troxel gets some props in our "relatability" tallies.
3.09 We have an animated Davidic line goin' down on the screen. Simple, but quite effective. He's really been digging the squared brackets [ ] today. I like them too.
3.10 Zedekiah replaces Jehoiachim in the Davidic line. So much for legitimate rulers of Judah.
3.12 Zerubbel saves the day because of something about a signet ring!
3.12 It looks like TA Steve hurt his leg. He has crutches with him. I hope he's okay.
3.13 Troxel begins to explain what a "signet ring" is. I'm expecting a picture to be coming up any second now... There it is. The Seal of Baruch. He makes an inside joke about the Hebrew language. Dave gets it (He's still awake!). Nobody else does.
3.15 He's really on fire with his slide transitions today. I think the one he just used was "flip." It's like were watching a magical slide show.
3.17 Nate Sweet had promised me in advance that he would be asking a question and "showing some sass" in class today. We'll have to see if he delivers this promise.
3.18 "Is this all clear?... I know I'll be written up on this, but is this all clear?" He even knows what we comment on about him! He is truly a scholar in every regard.
3.19 One question (not by Nate Sweet). It is cleared up rather quickly.
3.21 Language of "the branch" from Zech 3 is being looked into. I thoroughly look forward to this scholarly endeavor.
3.23 It took me two minutes to determine how to spell "thoroughly." With Spell Check.
3.25 USes the adjective "tantalizing" for at least the second time today. I feel like that's a lot, proportionally. "Blinds" transition.
3.26 A stunning "pinwheel" transition into a picture of a oil lamp. "Flip" transition into a picture of a multiple-spouted lamp. What transitions! Bravo! Encore!
3.27 The words of Haggai 4.2 are superimposed over the image of the multiple spouted lamp. Truly stunning effect.
3.29 His Mic seems to be altering volume as it sees fit today. It could be something as simple as differing volumes as he faces his head in different directions, but I think there's something more going on here. Clearly an attempt of another competing Biblical scholar to sabotage the beautiful work of art that is the Troxel lecture. You're going to have to work harder than that, foolish scholars!
3.31 Is it really already 3.31?! My how time flies when you're analyzing post exilic texts!
3.32 "Well, the question becomes..." What a classic Troxillian catch phrase.
3.33 I zone out for a couple of seconds and when I come to the large bolded word "Darius" stands alone on the screen. I have no idea what is going on right now.
3.34 Directly references Kevin Costner in Field of dreams when summarizing Eschatological delay. with "if you rebuild it, they will come."
3.36 Summing up Zechariah 9-14 with a very light, airy sky blue background.
3.37 The phrase "hairy mantle" is funny. I have no desire whatsoever to dig into what it actually means.
3.39 "But remember the words of Micah!" Troxel exclaims as he analyzes why Collins is wrong in every possible way. Also, in his righteous fervor, he uses the term "Hucksters."
3.40 Yes! One of my favorite graphic of all appears on the screen: the scroll with all of the prophetic books listed on it. You've been missed, scroll. You've been missed.
3.41 "...And next time we're going to be looking at the book of Malachi..." Troxel teases us with
3.42 More teasing as he exposes us to Malachi 1.1; We're on the edges of our seats! There's no way anyone's missing this Malachi lecture!
3.43 This is really quite the slide. We're still building off of the scroll graphic slide, but multiple text boxes have popped up. There's writing everywhere.
3.44 "Any questions on..." ( a hand pops up before he can even finish the question) Question (not Nate Sweet's, he's all talk) is handled well and the asker looks satisfied.
3.45 Another question. It is "intriguing" and Troxel says he will have to think about it. "Well, enough; I shall see you on Thursday."

What a lecture! I can't believe that we have achieved recognition. This maybe the single greatest moment of my life. How can we go anywhere but down from here? It's reassuring to know that we don't have to. We only need to hold tight to The Trox and let him take us up, up up.