it's amazing what some nice fall weather and a good debate can do for your mood. my office (which is full of evil liberals who work in higher education) is positively full of people grinning and laughing and they may as well be skipping about whistling zipadeedodah.

hey! i found a good recipe blog. chocolate and zucchini. i also found il forno, which is mainly italian food. i may try cooking something tonight. maybe the peperonata (pictured at right, image from ilforno) and pasta e zucchini. except all the measurements from these blogs are in grams, and i don't know how to convert them. what does 500g of tomatoes equal, anyway? well, i'll figure it out. but now i'm looking at all these delicious recipes and am absolutely inspired to have some sort of dinner party. how old and dorky of me.

this weekend is shaping up to be a fun one, i think. i don't have any plans for tonight, but tomorrow i think i'll do an 8-10 mile run (i did a great run yesterday on rock creek parkway, up an abandoned road called klingle road, and past the national cathedral back down to dupont). then in the afternoon, if it's not storming, i want to go to the greek festival at saint sophia. anybody down? sunday of course is apple picking day; i think we'll leave around 10am, stop and get lunch in charlottesville (and force frank's spinach rolls down everybody's throat), then go pick some apples. it's supposed to be 70 and sunny. perfect apple weather.

go check out DCist: later today i'll have a weekend events posting that should have some good things to keep you occupied for the next 72 hours. like the free polyphonic spree concert tonight at the kennedy center.

Tony Blankley, Washington Times columnist and unapologetic Bush apologist, on NPR just a moment ago:

"I think the world is going to hell, and nobody's satisfied with any of the solutions being offered by either candidate, so they are falling back on whoever they viscerally identify with. I don't think anyone would say the world is on the right track."

The above is paraphrased, from about the show's eighth minute -- you'll be able to find it here once the show had concluded. Another panelist agreed immediately thereafter, based upon her discussions with Bush voters.

Is this a scientifically rigorous representation of public opinion? No. But if it's at all accurate -- and I think it probably is -- then all Kerry has to do is finish his campaign by saying "It doesn't have to be this way" -- a theme that his "America can do better" mantra has neatly laid the groundwork for. A pessimistic electorate can't possibly favor the incumbent.