News and Updates

1. We’re at that point in the semester where the best you can hope for is not to fall too far behind, which leaves little time left over for things like blogging, reading, resting, or pretty much anything that isn’t work. Good thing I have no life/work balance! This too shall pass, eventually, but from now to December is going to be a mighty slog.

2. This is especially so given the issues that seem to be cropping up on campus a lot more than I have ever seen in the 36 years I have taught at the university level. Not sure if it’s the lingering effects of the pandemic, the general collapse of American culture as a whole, or just a fetid miasma in the air fevering up people’s brains, but we have definitely entered into the “interesting times” part of the proverb. Which means, of course, that it is no longer really much of a refuge from the general madness of 2025 America, and after a while that wears on a body.

3. I did manage to take some time off on Wednesday and have lunch with Lauren, which I don’t get to do much these days. We’re working on some blog posts together that I hope to have posted sometime soon, but mostly it was just lovely to spend time with her. And Oliver seems to be doing pretty well in graduate school as well, and we’re hoping to see him again over Thanksgiving. I’m not really adjusting well to this latest and probably final round of being empty nesters, I have to say, but I’ll get there. I’ve done it before. I know how it works. It’s nice to keep up with them both, though, and even better when we get a chance to share a meal. Lauren chose a pho place not far from campus, and it was really good.

4. We’re still planning for the holidays as if they’re going to happen this year because what else can you do? It’s good to spend time with loved ones, after all.

5. I don’t write much about the many and varied crimes of Convicted Felon Donald J. Trump and his minions, lackeys, cronies, and slaves anymore as it just gets overwhelming and every time I think that this crew of cannibals has hit rock bottom they break out the shovels and begin to dig. We have an unaccountable private army invading peaceful cities and disappearing people off the streets, the US military is being misused to execute people on the high seas without trial or even charges in violation of both US and international law and its leadership now regards the Secretary of Defense as a strutting halfwit (not without justification), we just slammed the door on trade negotiations with the people right across our longest border because the Pedo-In-Chief can’t handle being criticized by the ghost of Ronald Reagan, Congress has been shuttered by a lickspittle toady who knows full well that as soon as it goes back into session there will be a vote to release the Epstein files and all hell will break loose, the federal government has been shut down for weeks while Democrats remain in Washington ready to work and Republicans hide in their basements too scared even to hold town hall meetings with constituents let alone negotiate with their opponents, and half the White House was just vandalized out of existence ostensibly to build a tasteless gilded ballroom at a time when nobody can afford food, rent, car payments, or medicine, which feels very “French Revolution” to me. I strongly suspect that things are going to come to a head very soon – perhaps even this year – and that this will be far more interesting than I think most people would like but we’re in this mess now and the only way out is through.

6. Buckle up, folks. We could end up miles from here.

7. On the plus side, the weather has finally started to feel like autumn again, to the point where it has been worthwhile for me to break out long-sleeved shirts for the first time since March. Pretty soon it will be time to bring in the rabbits for the winter.

8. We now have a new microwave oven to replace the one that died an ignominious death a couple of weeks ago. It’s deeper and about half as tall as the previous one, and most of the buttons are actually hidden behind the door so you don’t see them until you open it up. Kim is the hunter/gatherer of the family and she had a good time picking it out. She asked me if there were any qualities I wanted in a new microwave and I had two: it had to warm up my food, and someone else had to install it. Both of these conditions were met, so we’re doing good. It’s nice to have a light over the stove again, too.

9. I’m still on Facebook because I have a lot of friends scattered around at vast distances from where I live and that’s mostly where I can see them these days. I’ve managed to clamp down on at least a good chunk of the nonsense that the Zuckerbot throws at his clients, though I have noticed that a) I’m getting a lot more right-wing nonsense breaking through the shield walls recently, and 2) I’m also getting a lot of posts foisted off on me that feature scantily clad, heavy-set hairy men. I don’t think these are connected, but for all I know they might be. I understand where the right-wing nonsense is coming from since the Zuckerbot is a well-known purveyor of such drivel, but the dad-bod beefcake pages are a mystery to me. I’ve known I was straight since I was five so I cannot imagine how I’d have done anything to persuade the algorithm that I’d be interested in them, so they’re not getting any clicks out of this. I suppose they’ll fade away eventually and then I’ll be besieged by the next unpleasant scam that comes barrelling down the interweebs at me because that’s how social media works in this Age of Enshittification, but so it goes. I’ve carved out my little niche on that site and it will take more than this to drive me away from the community I have built there. It does make the experience less than it should be, though.

10. My favorite hot sauce is back in stock and I have ordered a year’s supply of it, because you have to have your small victories in a world such as this.