Photo Friday: Unexpected.

For this week's Photo Friday challenge, "Unexpected." It's unexpected because I am quite certain that no one was outside of the apartment building raking leaves and because there is only this one relatively small pile. Heck, most leaves haven't changed, let alone fallen, and today is forcasted to be insanely windy. Why would a person rake this early and then have to do it again? That someone could have been right under my balcony raking, under these conditions, this time of year, this suddenly and without any noise just could not have happened. This mound is in a corner, and I am quite certain that the wind made this little pile. We've all seen the wind pulling together throngs of leaves and twisting them around in mini twisters. Maybe a renegade gust made my little leaf dune. That, or Industrious David snuck into my coffee stash, got hopped up on French Roast, stole my car, went to the hardware store and bought a rake, fought off our resident wildlife and raked leaves into that solitary little pile all by himself. Right.

Green Kerry.

President Bush says that Senator John Kerry is "incredibly environmentally green." Geez, and that's a bad thing? See what the nation's most influential environmental group thinks of Kerry. And, to be fair, this is what they think of Bush.

Philosopher waxes meteorological.

I have a theory about the weather: I am told that some unfortunate souls are affected adversely by a lack of sunlight in the winter and the occasional multi-week stretch of rain and grey skies. I am affected at times with the latter constant greyness but not necessarily the lack of sunlight that bothers some folks in the winter months. Until a few days ago, we had been experiencing piercing sunlight and blue skies for weeks on end. It didn't hit me until this weekend, when the rain and clouds showed up, that perhaps the sleep and eating irregularities I had been experiencing had something to do with the weather. I think that too much sun for long periods of time keeps me from being able to sleep and to rest and that the damp, cool, fog has come in and given me back my good sleep and, thus, my energy. I've been sleeping very well lately and have been getting work done. I'm not going to quote Garbage songs, ("I'm only happy when it rains...") since rainy greyness is not necessarily my preferred weather. I love Poe and Baudelaire, but I certainly do not purport to have some darkness in my soul or a dark world-outlook which makes me hate the sun and love the moon or skulls or some such nonsense. My point is that a lack of such soupy weather for too long leaves me restless and on edge. Now wait until we have weeks of no sun for me to complain the other way around. And, of course, my little theory only counts for me, since I comprise the entire test group.

Goings on of late.

Panoramic of the Ohio River, Paducah, Kentucky. Have had a very busy week. We played hooky from the university last Monday to trek to Paducah, Kentucky -- a quiet little river town in northwestern Kentucky that is across the river from Illinois and is the place where three large rivers meet. I found a copy of Bruce Chatwin's The Songlines at a shop there for a mere $4 that I hope I will get to read soon. Despite the legends of "Kentucky rednecks" and such, the folks of northwestern Kentucky are very nice and some of the friendliest people I've come across. And so polite! I otherwise had a busy week and didn't get to post much, not that I got any work done at all. On Thursday night, we drove all of the way to and through St. Louis, Missouri to pick up a Harvard historian from the airport for a talk she was giving Friday at SIU. She really is a lovely person, and her talk was excellent. My wife knows her from her years at the Crimson Stain (my term, thanks), so she spent several hours with us at our home Friday night, over numerous cups of coffee, talking about history, academia and reading. A wonderful person, really. She's as un-Harvard as they come, and I mean that as a very high compliment. I'm re-committing to getting more work done this week, damn it. And I have the perfect film as inspiration: Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It's such a lucid depiction of frenzied studying and genius at work that it gives me, at least, something to strive to. None of that "playing god" business, though. Really, I have no talents for science, and I'm certainly no genius.

Moleskines across the world.

If you find yourself drawn to Moleskine notebooks but if -- for some reason -- you've never visited Moleskinerie, you might like to check out the site and the community to participate in the Wandering Moleskine Project.

R.I.P. Jacques.

One of the most famous living philosophers has died. Jacques Derrida died today in Paris, of pancreatic cancer. I'm not necessarily a fan at all of deconstructionism, but this is certainly a loss for the philosophical community as a whole. Very sad.

Just a hint of color.

We have a relatively warm and extremely humid climate in Southern Illinois, so the leaves are just beginning to show their colors this autumn. I found a spot yesterday where, among green maple trees, there was one which was totally yellow and another that was totally orange. Non-conformist trees, those two.

Ah, the debate.

Regardless of what I'm sure lots of people will say, I cannot award either Vice Presidential canditate victory in tonight's debate. What an informative and...even debate! Yes, the Vice President was getting nasty, buy he really calmed down after Senator Edwards' complimentary remarks about his family. Things were not entirely civil at times, but I think that both candidates really did a fine job of laying out their bosses' positions for informational purposes and for the benefit of undecided voters. Damn it, this is what debates are for. The bits of nastiness aside, there is a winner after all, perhaps: the debate itself.

Dear Undergrads, Re: Majors.

With the exception of what grad programs are looking for (i.e., if you are looking at physics MS programs and majored in theatre, you're probably out of luck), one's choice of major means very little in real life, according to this article. And Hugh Hefner majored in philosophy. Am I in good or bad company, then?

Ten Oh Four.

Seven years ago, I went out on a date with the most beautiful woman in the world. One year ago, I married her. Bliss, I tell you. Bliss.