Weird, Weird Saturday

1. Getting the day off to a mildly surreal start, I looked at They Might be Giants' web page, and I listened to the Albany song, which is hilarious if you grew up in the Capital District. Remember: Architecturally, The Egg is without precedent.


2. After dinner I was going to go to the cafe to try to chip away at the pile of grading. Stopped by my office to pick up my textbook, and I saw something odd by the flourescent lights at the other end of the hallway. Bird? Insect? Something else? Turned out to be a very, very, very freaked out hummingbird (female ruby-throated, I think). She kept flying along the hallway flourescent lights in a frenzied, insect-like way and refused to be shooed into a classroom. After I graded, I came back to check on the bird. She was clearly tired and flying pretty low through the hall. She eventually did fly into a classroom; I opened all the windows, turned off the lights (twilight outside), and closed the door. I didn't see her afterwards, so she was either hiding or else had escaped.


3. At the cafe? I ran into the chemist. This is such a small town.


4. On my way home I stopped at the grocery store. Near the front of the store was a clearance cart full of discount merchandise: discontinued cigarettes on sale for $2 a pack. A small crowd had gathered by the cart, and people were intently pawing through the mix looking for their favorites.