When It Rains, It Pours

My bi-annual computer meltdown has just occurred on my desktop/server, so I am going to have to push back the upcoming auction of antiquarian Watchtower items (see here).

I will get it going in early September if I can manage to sort out what needs restoration and what is best left to that big data dump in the sky. My next equipment purchases are a new desktop AND A BACKUP DRIVE, thereby giving me hope of breaking the cycle of crash, burn, lose data.

In the meantime, prayers from those who are so inclined are always welcome! And "I-told-you-sos" from techies are assumed, so y'all don't need to weigh in. I've been telling myself so all day.

Idiopathic*

*"Idiopathic is an adjective used primarily in medicine meaning arising spontaneously or from an obscure or unknown cause. From Greek ἴδιος, idios (one's own) + παθος, pathos (suffering), it means approximately 'a disease of its own kind.' "
-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiopathic

Also, "from the Latin, meaning 'we're idiots, because we don't know what's causing it.'" -- Hugh Laurie as Dr. Gregory House in the TV series "House."

My blogging has been light because my husband has had a recurrence of his deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary emboli (PE) in both lungs. It was a little scary last weekend. He took our son to kendo class on Saturday, and wound up unable to finish his own lessons because he became suddenly short-winded. He could barely speak after walking from the car to the house when they got back.

I took him to the hospital over his mild protests, where they admitted him after looking at his CT scans and finding that he had clots in both lungs. Fortunately, he did not have to stay more than one night.

Rich's DVT/PE is idiopathic (see above). He's not elderly (his first occurrence was 10 years ago at age 39), doesn't travel by plane for hours, isn't pregnant, hasn't had surgery, etc. When he used to make platelet donations they noted that he could donate twice as many as the average person, so maybe that has something to do with it. The "Why" of the situation eludes the doctors.

Things are pretty much back to normal, so work and blogging are back on track. Deo gratias.

Old Lighthouse Books Upcoming Auction Alert

I'm pleased to announce two special auctions which I will be posting to eBay within the next two weeks:

1. A Millennial Dawn "Missionary Envelope": Zion's Watch Tower of September, 1887, mentions a new campaign to raise awareness of Pastor Russell's teaching as set down in The Plan of the Ages. It involved using envelopes with Bible verses and an ad for Volume I of Millennial Dawn. One of these envelopes and an accompanying letter will be auctioned on eBay. The letter makes mention of a Pilgrim (traveling speaker for the Watch Tower Society) named "Jonson" who was a "converted Jew." This has to be P. S. L. Johnson, who later severed ties with the Watch Tower and began his own group, the Laymen's Home Missionary Movement. As of the writing of this letter, though (March, 1906) , he was still a member of the International Bible Students:


2. Old Theology Quarterly No. 25: The Only Name; A Criticism of Bishop Foster's New Gospel. This item contains a critique of a Methodist bishop's dissent from Protestant teaching on the salvation of people who never heard the Gospel:

Prices and starting date are TBD.

Book Larnin'

The serious student of the book arts will pay a visit to the website of the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The school, founded in 1983, provides courses, lectures, and online information about printing, binding, identification, bibliography, and other essential knowledge about books for the collector and dealer.

If you can't afford the tuition or the time to attend the school, you can take advantage of the reading lists for the various courses. They're an education in themselves.