Thirty days hath September, and so today is October. But September was fun while it lasted, especially last night. After a wine tasting and Starbucks experience with jwer and Linda, Linda came over to watch the presidential debates. Luckily, we were fortified with lots of little glasses of wine because the sight of George W. Bush, hunched over his podium like an angry troll with inarticulate talking points, didn’t cause the system-wide distress it might have. A Kerry win was expected. Having a bottle of red wine explode all over my clean, white shirt was unexpected.

But there have been many disasters in America this past week besides red wine on a clean, white shirt. Hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions have wounded our noble land (and parts of Florida). Red wine on a clean, white shirt, though an offense to my sense of order, comes in a distant fifth on the scale of tragedy.

But it hit the ceiling, too.