everyone else has said all the things i feel about hurricaine katrina and the aftermath better than i ever could. my heart is heavy for anyone who was affected by the hurricaine, for new orleans and the gulf coast, for all those people who live on the edge of survival.

around here, classes are starting for the penn undergrads. they arrived en masse back on campus at the end of last week and... sigh... the sidewalks are crowded with back-from-the-summer-house, starbucks-sipping, flip-flop-wearing undergrads. there's an energy around that was lacking all summer, with friends getting back together (right in the middle of the sidewalk where i was walking, thanks very much), poster sales, bank raffles, and free ice-cream at ben & jerry's. i hate having to give the campus back come fall.

and now that it's nearly fall, and we only have a few weeks to enjoy it, we're finally getting the back "yard" (by yard, i mean the 16'x7'* bit of broken concrete and 2-story** weeds outside our back door) done. they started yesterday with the breaking up and removal of the already broken-up concrete. next: trench digging, retaining wall building, patio laying, and fence constructing! and maybe in a week or so we'll have a patio that we can let people see without having to disclaimer ourselves to death about how we're getting it fixed, really we are.

when it's done, expect a party at our house, to celebrate the end of the back jungle and to drink up the leftover beer from the wedding!

*no, i'm not kidding, it really is that small.

**yes, i'm serious, they really are that big.

over labor day weekend, karl and i mostly lazed on the couch watching movies we'd tivo'd from the free week of HBO the cable company is offering. the big bounce, ray, the day after tomorrow, napoleon dynamite, the medallion. so far. we did take a couple hours out to bike to karl's work's new location, out in bala. we rode out west river drive then up onto city live ave and into bala. that hill? at the end of west river drive? that hill is a raving lunatic. i am so glad it is not me who is going to have to ride it. however, like all exercise, it felt great to have done it, and the chocolate we ate when we got home tasted extra good.

now that the wedding is over, i've started to think about where i'd like to go for a honeymoon. we're tentatively planning on going right after xmas for a couple weeks, to someplace warm. after our pre-wedding mini-massages, i'm looking at going to a spa of some sort, where we can have a vacation filled with facials and massages, good food and wine, beautiful scenery, hiking, possibly ocean-y activities like snorkling or scuba diving, and relaxing evenings by the pool/on the terrace/in the hammock/by the bonfire. i found this site, which i am now in love with, and have been trying to decide for the last hour whether i'd rather go to vietnam, costa rica, mexico, or arizona. somebody, please stand over my while i finish my dissertation RIGHT NOW.