- Fall is here; it’s two-blanket weather already when the windows are open. I’m enjoying every second of being able to sleep under blankets and wear sweats in the house before the tropical hot-water heat gets turned on.
- A tolerant Mister Husband, who is putting up with me orchestrating freezing bedroom temperatures. I think it’s because he knows I’ll be thwarted soon enough.
- Winter squash. Apples. The last haul of red peppers, which I’ll roast today.
- A smart, interesting class full of Technical & Professional Writing students.
- Some conference road trips coming up.
- The Muppet Show exhibit will be in Little Rock at the same time we are.
- Sort of mastering the art of frothing milk. Or at least getting to the point where I’m no longer causing milk explosions.
- Peruvian coffee.
- Sending the RSA proposal off. It’s a fun one, and I’ll be thrilled if it gets picked up.
- Starting to find the groove of the semester. The first two weeks are always a little funky.
- Going to the season opening of A Prairie Home Companion last night. I’ve enjoyed Keillor’s writing since I was a kid and had wanted to go for just about forever. (There goes every ounce of punk cred I’ve ever had.) We were some of the youngest people in the completely packed house, and it turned out to be sort of comforting to sit in the dark, surrounded by the smell of clean, white-haired people, with Keillor’s down-comforter voice settling over us all. I almost fell asleep after intermission. Still, I’ll admit to being disappointed that the Lake Wobegon monologue was 20 years old — a mishmash of two stories from Leaving Home. I really expected a fresh monologue, but I suppose there’s some wonderfulness in hearing live something I had read so long ago.

- The Derailers were guests on the show, and they were awesome live. They did a wonderful cover of Buck Owens’ Big in Vegas* (available on their MySpace) as well as Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass and two others that I’m spacing right now because I’m so entranced by their version of Big in Vegas. There’s no video for it on the Internets (somebody get on that!), but here’s the video for Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass:

*I’'d include the original Buck Owens video, but the YouTube upload is flagged "embedding disabled by request.” Grrr to you, Buck Estate. I’m not linking to it if I can’t embed it. Update your views on media distribution and economic effects, please.