Christmas 2007 on Americanizing Emily

Viola has an excellent Christmas 2007 post over on The Americanization of Emily including pictures of my friend Q's wedding at Salisbury Cathedral, the highlight of our trip.

Americanization of Emily catches up

I am delighted to see the return of The Americanization of Emily over the last week or so. I was out shopping in Swadlincote ("down Swad") with my mum, my brother Jonathan and my sister Nicola when Viola was writing her Catch-up post. It's nice to see a picture of Viola on the blog. The one of me in a Duke t-shirt was taken while we were visiting Myrtle Beach, a particularly enjoyable weekend, and not just because of the pile of articles I took with me on statistics and the Synoptic Problem, read in response to a dawning realization about a problem for the Q theory that I had not previously noticed, but that is to stray onto the subject matter of my other blog.

Viola's subsequent post on the End of the World Cult relates to a fascinating documentary we watched on our return from England on Wednesday, and which I am tempted to use in future to illustrate the phenomenon of eschatological movements and the revision of failed prophecies.

By the way, a very happy 2008 to you all.

Viola's Work Permit

Several readers of Viola's excellent Americanization of Emily have been reading my new personal blog here, and one of the frequently asked questions is "What has happened to Viola's blog?" Lots of people, including me, have been missing the once regular posts. I can't, of course, answer for Viola except to share the good news that she recently received her work permit, after almost two years of life in North Carolina, and that means that she is now working hard and receiving an income. We petitioned for the work permit as part of our green card application. We don't know yet how long it will be before we receive the green card, but one benefit of the application process is that a spouse is able to petition for a work permit as an element within the application. The work she is doing is some sort of complicated computer stuff. It's great to be a two income family for the first time. But my guess is that there won't be many Americanization of Emily posts for the time being.