12:28 pm. 44 degrees Fahrenheit. Overcast.

From where I'm blogging I can see a pair of heavy glass doors. Behind them, an ugly rusted railing that's serving as a makeshift bike-lockup hitching post. Concrete steps. Dead leaves. One huge oak tree, one smaller maple tree. I know the Knight library is just beyond my edge of vision. Closer that that is a brick wall. Closer than that is the door to the computer classroom. I sit in the computer classroom, typing a blog entry on a Mac. A hated Mac. Students have left the building. Of a class roster of 22, 15 have given me their final papers. 66 percent or so. The others? Given up? Slept in? Trying to slide by with a late paper tomorrow? I'm incredibly sleepy. I think that drinking caffeine during the day makes me sleep more hours, though I awake feeling less-refreshed. 10 hours on caffeine=tired Tony. Seven hours on beer and (sometimes) horchata=alert and bushytailed Tony. Twemlow needs a haircut. Three people have scored 60/100 on my quiz. One is a friend I've known for half my life. The other is a girl I like. The still other is not Ted Kooser, poet laureate, but someone who needs a haircut. I think. John Witte's new book, "The Hurtling" is magnificent in a quiet, understated way. Don't wait another 25+ years between books, John.