Jacques Derrida, Abstruse Theorist, Dies at 74

Cameron beat me to the punch with Derrida, but the above obit headline from NYTimes seemed a bit Onion-esque to me. Who wouldn't want to be remembered, above all, as an "abstruse theorist." Odd, methinx.

As far as the last 2 debates go, my impressions are similar to Cameron's - and I don't think the media concensus was too far from our thoughts, either. I was a little disappointed by Edwards - I think he came out too strong and then overcompensated - but I think he did alright, which is what everyone seemed to think he needed to do going against someone who had presidential debate experience before. A draw, but the expectations made it an Edwards victory. I also thought Kerry kicked ass last night - the clearest victory yet - and I was pretty amazed by how pro-Kerry the questions and questioneers seemed to be. It seemed almost set up...

Meanwhile, I went and got my "Get Out The Vote" Carry Oregon training today. Oregon is all vote by mail, with ballots going out on Oct. 14. Beginning the 15th, every 4 days, I go around to registered democrats in my neighborhood, remind them to vote earlt, and offer to collect their ballots. That's right - I take their ccompleted ballots from them. Does this not seem like it should be illegal to anyone else? But, hey, that's how they do things here. Apparently, if 80% of the registered Democrats in the Portland metro area vote, then the election in Oregon is over, regardless of what happens elsewhere. And, because of early collections, that quantity is knowable well in advance of the election, meaning that Bush might abandon Oregon early, best case scenario. Or is it better to keep him spending here? I'm excited, either way.

Ethan and I got extremely drunk last night after making borscht, then pairing the soup with a whole bottle of vodka I brought from Russia a year ago. We had fun. Ethan then had a rough night. I had a rough day - never had a hangover like this before.

Go volunteer! It's nice to be back in Portland...cary