One Year On

Hey folks! I hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was fine, with little of any significance to report. Most of Saturday was spent writing an article, most of yesterday was spent doing church stuff. Most notable, though, was that Saturday marked one year that I've been in Virginia. Wednesday will mark one year since I started inhabiting Van Dieman's Station, a sort of outpost of self-exile (yes, I have a bit of a flare for the dramatic at times). A number of things have changed since last year, and I may write up some reflections on that at some point this week. Now that I've been here for a year, I have a reasonable idea of what my plan for the rest of my time here is, and I have some idea of how long that will be. More on that later. For now, a couple of quick items:

Did you know that there were Roman ruins in Beirut?

Did you know that in addition to al Hurra TV, the American government sponsors a network of radio stations around the world known as Radio Sawa? This, in addition to the BBC's Arabic service, is a great resource for people who want to listen to spoken Arabic (or just something that's not in English, not unlike Gregorian chant).

Okay, time to get the ball rolling for the day. Take it easy, folks.