Upcoming Office Tour

I watch a lot of room tours and office tours on YouTube and as of late have even gotten into personal library tours as well. Many of them have been inspiring. I’ve gained ideas and insights on how to improve my own setup and in some cases I’ve been able to implement those ideas. My home office has been a work in progress since I got married nearly 5 months ago. I’d say that I’m roughly 93% done with it. I just need a couple of decorations, some touchup paint work, and a little tidying up and it’ll be complete.

The tentative plan is to film an office tour when I have it to where I want it. Or at least when it’s 98% done. In all likelihood I’ll film it before the paintwork. It’s not going to be anything fancy. Just me walking through with my phone for a few minutes and explaining what I’ve done and why I’ve done it. At least that’s the plan. We’ll see what actually happens. Until then I thought I’d share some before and after pics.

B”H

In the Mail

Hendrickson sent along a copy of The Greek New Testament, Fifth Revised Edition (with Dictionary), otherwise known as the UBS5 for review. Holding this volume in hand brings back fond memories of getting the UBS4 a number of years ago at the recommendation of Dan Wallace.

I notice a couple of immediate differences, namely the UBS5 has done away with the italicized font employed in the UBS4. I never much minded it but I know it drove plenty of people crazy. The other difference that stands out is the page feel. The UBS5 pages feel much glossier and smoother than the UBS4 pages. Only time will tell if this proves to be a good thing.

Oh, and the UBS5 naturally contains the revised edition of Barclay Newman’s wonderful A Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament. Of course, you could get newer editions of the UBS4 with this updated lexicon, or purchase it as a standalone volume, but I’m quite happy to have the first edition with my UBS4 and the revised edition with my UBS5. Variety is the spice of life, or so they say!

B”H

Pot… Kettle…

So I’ve been watching all these YouTube videos where people give tours of their offices and I came across one where the guy in question had a ton of headphones. Here’s a screenshot of what was above his desk (which doesn’t include the ones he had on his dresser & bookshelf):

I saw that and thought to myself, “Nobody needs that many pairs of headphones; that’s just ridiculous.” Then I looked to my left and saw this:

 

Hello Kettle, I’m Pot. You’re black.

B”H

In the Mail

My Ignatius Press ordered arrived today. To be honest, I saw the box and thought the publisher had sent a bunch of books for review because, well, I forgot I had placed this order! But here’s what I got:

• Fundamental Speeches from Five Decades
• The Legacy of John Paul II
• Credo for Today
• Church, Ecumenism and Politics
• Christ Our Joy
• Heart of the Christian Life
• Joseph Ratzinger: Life in the Church and Living Theology
• The Church of God
• A School of Prayer

Now I have to move the Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI section of my library because these books are way too tall to fit on the top of my bookcase where my other Ratzinger volumes are housed.

B”H

In the Mail

Zondervan sent along a variety of Bibles for review. I’m going to put these in the hands of some trusted family members and let them tell me what they think and then I’ll relay their thoughts to you all. Here’s what came in:

Rock Solid Faith Study Bible for Teens, NIV

Animal-Print Collection Bible

Sports Collection Bible

Adventure Bible Book of Devotions

B”H

In the Mail

Eerdmans sent along a copy of Bruce K. Waltke’s The Dance between God and Humanity: Reading the Bible Today as the People of God for review. This is a collection of 34 previously published articles/essays that cover a wide array of topics under two broad headings, namely, Biblical Theological Studies and Biblical Theological Themes. The book is titled after the 14th chapter, which was previously published in a Festschrift for J. I. Packer, and is, as far as I can tell, a commentary on Proverbs 15:30-16:15! I’m very much looking forward to reading a number of these essays.

As I glanced over at the book on my desk I thought that there was a bend in the cover, which was quite upsetting! Sometimes these review copies get damaged in the shipping process and there’s not much that can be done about it. But then I grabbed the book and realized it was just the way the cover was designed; it was an optical illusion! Here’s photographic evidence of what caused my momentary panic:

B”H

In the Mail

So we all remember that last year I grabbed my trusty little ESV Personal Size Reference Bible (PSRB) out of my car and discovered that it was started to come apart (and if you don’t remember that then shame on you; the demise of a book is worth remembering!). I contacted Crossway when it first happened but didn’t receive a reply. No big deal; emails get lost. So I then attempted to fix the problem myself, which I thought I had done, but should have known better since my first instinct was that my efforts wouldn’t be successful in the long run. I was right. The repair didn’t keep.

So I contacted Crossway again and was met with a prompt reply. I was informed that they had reissued the PSRB line but that at this time they didn’t have a genuine leather option. I was offered any Bible of equal value as a replacement if I didn’t opt for one of the less expensive PSRB options. After perusing the choices I decided that I loved the format of the PSRB so much that I’d just get a replacement with a TruTone cover. I opted for the Navy/Chestnut, Trail Design and it arrived today! Here’s a couple of pics:

 

The print is slightly different between the two Bibles, which it seems, have employed different fonts. So even though they’re both 8pt in size, it seems that the newer edition is slightly larger. The marginal references also seem marginally larger (no pun intended). Having said that, the TruTone Bible is slightly thicker than the genuine leather original. I think this is a result of the difference in font and type size. I’d also note that they’ve chosen to omit the book introductions in the newer edition. This is most unfortunate since those introductions are quite useful in preparing readers for the text to come. For whatever it’s worth, the box that the newer comes in is way better though.

In all I believe I’ll be happy with this Bible as long as it holds together. It’s the perfect size for me to carry around; it has all those features I’ve grown to love (i.e., single column; cross references; words of Christ in black); and it’s a translation that doesn’t offend me (like, e.g., the AMPLIFIED does!). Here’s to hoping it stays together!

B”H