Sitting in a near-deserted library...

...the day after the State Street Halloween party. I'm sure everyone is still hung-over.

Winter is on its way here in Madison (if it would stop occasionally being 60 degrees); it's gray and cloudy here, a gentle drizzle that's just enough to get the pavement wet but not quite enough to warrent unfolding my umbrella. I like late autumn. There's something romantic in a 19th century sort of way about the last few leaves on the trees, the drizzle that is sometimes snow, the flat, gray sky.

I haven't blogged since the beginning of the semester, but if you're really desperate to keep up with the not-too-interesting events of my daily life here, you can find me on Twitter (I'm jschallock) or Facebook. I'll do my best to write the occasional blog post as well. And as always, comments are welcome.

To catch up on just a few of the things that have been happening, I'm going to write several posts by topic, rather than cramming them all into one super-long post.