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Correction to my previous statement that I can't really mess with the content of the Gospels. I just remembered that my book doesn't follow Revelation to the same ending. Given how my trilogy will end, I can explore other differences between what Connor observes to have happened in the past versus what is documented in the New Testament. Adds to the mystery of the book.

Ugh. Even after trimming the list of events in Jesus's ministry to only the most spectacular ones, that still leaves fifteen more events to research. So far, I've only done four, which took over three weeks. Fortunately, I have enough to start the outline.

Capernaum is done, with one day to spare! It's a ridiculous fifteen pages of notes and photos that will probably be reduced to just two pages when integrated into the story. I'm going to have to scale back the number of sites Connor visits, otherwise I'm going to need six more months to research the rest of them. Granted, Capernaum was Jesus's base and the site of most of his miracles, so 1.5 weeks spent on it is fine. Jerusalem is the real bear. I'll probably need up to a month to do it justice.

Got a cool new 8.5 x 11 printed book that follows in the footsteps of Jesus. Lots of charts, pictures, and additional information. The pilgrimage books and travel guides weren't enough, and the web and YouTube videos are full of iffy information. Here's hoping the author knows what he's writing about.

Also, I settled on the Israeli government website as a more reliable resource than the tour guide videos and Wikipedia, although Wikipedia is still one of my main resources.

Anyone have any idea how a single row of columns can divide a room into three aisles along three walls?

I'm inclined to assume that "row" here doesn't necessarily mean a straight line. I'm guessing it's a continuous "row" of columns that runs along three of the walls.

Note to self: reconcile official Israeli website about Capernaum with other sources.

The folks on the Catholic forum, including two priests, were very helpful regarding the languages Jesus spoke. His native tongue was Aramaic, but he also spoke Hebrew and probably Greek. Hebrew was the language of the Scriptures, Temple, and prayer. Greek was the language of commerce and therefore the most common language of the Roman Empire, except in and around Rome, where Latin dominated.

In my space opera, I blew up a 400-pound male Mob boss named Mama of Mama's Little Shipping, which has a galaxy-wide monopoly on shipping. Mama was poisoned with Daemon-07, a substance that causes your intestines to expand at nearly the speed of sound. It happened at his Le Chick Restaurant, famous for its succulent baby chicken dishes. A favorite hangout of Mob bosses from around the galaxy, as each person in the restaurant inhaled the resulting fumes, they too exploded. Mama's head landed in the lap of the ever-elegant Lady Kay, named for our very own Kdot (see above). The quick-thinking Kay escaped out an air conditioning vent. On the news, she is quoted as saying: "Heads were popping like champagne corks in there. I thought I had cannon fire chasing my [censored]." I kept laughing while writing the full news report. He was one of my favorite characters, but the news report was too good to pass up once it was written.

Some day I'll tell you about a crazed 41st century taxi driver named Leonardo, his ex-wife Donna Pelosa (which Google Translate seems to think means "hairy woman"), and the cab's long-suffering artificial intelligence unit, Stronza, which is Italian for bitch (it was the ex-wife's rusty old cab). You should see what Stronza can do when Leonardo engages Suicidio Mode! He doesn't actually die (yet), but he leaves quite a body count behind as he flies his cab through rush hour traffic.

Good grief. I just spent 10 minutes looking for a note I had made about the First Jewish Revolt. I have handwritten notes that I take while watching videos. I looked through them repeatedly but couldn't find the note. That's when I remembered I have virtually all of my notes in a Word document. I've only been using it non-stop for a year, including earlier today. I need a good daytime weed. Counting down to Oct. 17!

I decided to research Capernaum (Jesus's base) yesterday rather than work on the outline. Allowing time for errands, it may take me until the end of the week to finish with the town (the remains of a synagogue, two churches (one "hovering" atop St. Peter's home), the remains of numerous stone-walled homes, what appear to be restored stone piers, and a modern building whose purpose I'll simply have to guess at). Thank God for tourists with cameras. I also found an online tour/guide for several of the key Christian sites. I hope to finish his video of Capernaum tonight.

Funny thing. Most of the pictures show the surrounding landscape almost completely devoid of green. I figured it was barren like many other desert areas of Israel and didn't consider seasonality. During growing season, the whole landscape is transformed into countless shades of green. I forgot that Galilee is incredibly fertile. Mostly grasses near the town from what I can tell. Virtually no trees until you get to the low hills in the distance. Everything around the town was probably cut down over the 1300 years that the town existed.

Here's an example from a capitalization article about geographic naming: Everyone should visit the Indiana Dunes. The dunes offer hiking, swimming, and picnicking. If I follow my Guard rule, then dunes should be Dunes.