Fall is here

Temperatures are falling. The days are getting shorter. Football season is well underway and, maybe more importantly, hockey season is starting soon. Yet none of this really made me realize Fall was coming until I had to make a trip to LaCrosse to do some training for work. For anyone that doesn't know, the stretch of 10-15 miles on I90 just west of the Mississippi is absolutely gorgeous. The trees are turning colors, making it even better. So, now that I've taken that drive, I can safely say that Fall is upon us.

This weekend, I finally decided to reformat my computer. It'd been far too long since I'd last done it and, over time, I'd accumulated quite a bit of garbage. So I took most of Saturday backing up files and installing updates. All in all, it went well and, now, my computer is far cleaner than it was.

Liz and I also went out with the Barbers to go pick apples at one of the nearby orchards. The apple picking was good and went very fast. The most fun, though, was watching little Owen (he'll be three in January) running around looking at all the farm animals (chickens, pigs, rabbits, kittens, etc.) He's adorable.

Aside from that, I haven't really been up to much. Going to work. Hitting the gym. Sleeping (some). Trying to eat more. I did pick up a book that was very good and found some new tunes to listen to.

I recently finished reading Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson. It's a long novel (about 1,000 pages), but really a great story. Also, Stephenson's writing style reminds me of that of Douglas Adams, of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy fame - kind of flatly blunt so that you can't help but laugh. Given that I was going to be spending plenty of time on a plane, I picked up another of Stephenson's books, Snow Crash. Meh. The writing is still good and the style lends itself to very involving imagery, but the story isn't nearly as compelling as Cryptonomocon. So, as I near completion of this book, I really don't know what I'm going to read, next. Any suggestions would be welcome.

In terms of music, Nate recommended some tunes by The Flaming Lips and Nada Surf. It seems pretty good, but, admittedly, I haven't listened to all of it, yet. I was also recommended Goldfrapp. Very cool stuff. Kinda European Electronica, I guess I'd call it. It's not normally a genre I'd listen to, but it makes my wife dance every time I turn it on, so it can't be all bad. ;)

So I see the Packers just forced a second fumble inside the 5 yard line in tonight's game, so perhaps I should pay more attention. But, of course, that's the joy of having a laptop - to pay more attention, I need only look up. :)

Okay, so I'm off to watch some football and vegetate.

O'Doyle rules!