I Think They Call it Hobnobbing

Websters defines "hobnob" as follows:
Hobnobbing with our social betters can be a hit-or-miss proposition, a fact that has an etymological justification. The verb hobnob originally meant “to drink together” and occurred as a varying phrase, hob or nob, hob-a-nob, or hob and nob, the first of which is recorded in 1763. This phrasal form reflects the origins of the verb in similar phrases that were used when two people toasted each other. The phrases were probably so used because hob is a variant of hab and nob of nab, which are probably forms of have and its negative. In Middle English, for example, one finds the forms habbe, “to have,” and nabbe, “not to have.” Hab or nab, or simply hab nab, thus meant “get or lose, hit or miss,” and the variant hob-nob also meant “hit or miss.” Used in the drinking phrase, hob or nob probably meant “give or take” from a drinking situation hob nob spread to other forms of chumminess.
Well, that's what I did last week. I spent the week with professors of homiletics (that's the science of preaching). I went with my mentor to the Academy of Homiletics Annual Meeting held this year in West Palm Beach, Fl. I went for two basic reasons. First, these are the men and women that I am reading. I met authors such as Richard Lischer, Eugene Lowry, Dick Eslinger, and others. OK, these names mean nothing to most everyone else but in my world it's like meeting rock stars or other famous people that you look up to. It was amazing to be able to put faces and voices to names and book titles. From this point on, these are the folks I will be reading (I actually spent about $200 on books by these and other authors - the book table was 50% off!). The second reason was to make contacts that might serve me well in the future. If I want to teach preaching somewhere, these are the men and women that help make those decisions and pave the way for folks like me to find a position. Though I doubt the Yale Divinity School will come calling (though I did meet there Homiletics faculty), others may be more conducive. It's never too early to be making contacts. After all, someone has to be willing to take a shot at a 57 year old (by the time I'm finished with the PhD) first time professor. I hope the 30+ years of experience will be a factor in my favor, but I want to make sure I have done my work properly.
One of the things Fuller promotes is the chance in the last section of your PhD to study with others. They work hard to make that work. Who knows, maybe one of the heavyweights will give me a chance to study with them for a quarter. Looks nice on the resume. I hope that might come about. Anyway, with my first quarter now history (my last class was last night - four quizzes in Hebrew and a recitation in front of the whole class!). So, I am officially done with classes. Now the real work begins. You should see the apartment! Cleaning, washing and dusting here I come!