I�m feeling delinquent today. AJ and I spent the morning enjoying the sunny warm day. We raked a big pile of leaves that shook down from one of the large oaks by the street so that AJ could charge into it a few times, imitating Linus in It�s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (he even sings the descending sequence from the soundtrack as he runs):

Later, AJ drove me to distraction with his constant arguing about nothing. He wound up in deep trouble right before leaving for school and had his scooter privileges revoked � a great tragedy. So instead of scooting on two wheels, he had to walk on two feet, as he mournfully informed me. I promised to bring the scooter at pick-up time if it isn�t raining, although at the moment that state of affairs looks unlikely.

Now that AJ�s at school, I should be grading papers. Instead, I�m curled up in my favorite chair watching the rain drip off the eaves of the house and thinking about the prospective students I need to meet with tomorrow and how to keep my class from freaking out about their first quiz. I can�t believe next week is midterms already. I feel like I�ve just started.

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Also, it seems as if my limerick contest judges have forgotten me, so I am going to make the call myself. The winner of the contest is my real life friend Br., making his comments debut here on this blog and also shaming me for my lack of communication in his direction. He deserves the prize for putting up with a prodigal friend like me at all, but also for his model limerick:

There once was a man from Zimbabwe,
So obese, in a huge-shapeless-blob way,
That his quivering mass
Caused observers to ask,
"Heavens, just how much does that poor slob weigh?"

Note that although the sound �way� ends all three of the long lines, they are spelled three different ways. Bonus points for that.

A close runner up, though was Claudia�s contribution. Although she used Zimbabwe twice � a not quite orthodox form � she got bonus points for working in Zimbabwe�s former name:

There once was a man from Zimbabwe
Who said to a girl, "Goin' my way?"
She asked, "Where's Rhodesia?
"Cause I have amnesia."
And they both flew right back to Zimbabwe.

Also, rhyming Rhodesia and amnesia is fabulous. It�s almost as good as my favorite song lyric rhyme (courtesy of Fountains of Wayne), �I saw you talkin� to Christopher Walken.�

I don�t believe I ever arrived at an appropriate prize, so if you guys have any suggestions, I�m all ears.

And Br., did you ever come up with a punch line for the augmented sixth chords?

And now I really must read what my students have to say about Bach. Ah, Bach.

7 people said it like they meant it