A couple thoughts at the end of August

On the way home tonight, my mind began to glow with whirling nodes of thought, careening through a cosmic vapor of invention! Or quite simply, a few thoughts crossed my mind.

In no particular order:

1. I heard on NPR that another "failed bank," this one in Minnesota, shut down. Since almost all banks nowadays are covered by FDIC, I'm amazed that with all the bank bailouts and closures that took place over the last year, that there hasn't been a full-on bailout of FDIC! Or that the damn thing just hasn't run dry completely. Seriously, with all the money lost in those failed banks, just how much insurance can the FDIC really provide? As they say, money doesn't grow on trees, and the FDIC doesn't necessarily have access to limitless capital.
   
   
2. It seems like, almost on a dime, the seasons are changing. This morning it was almost dark when I got up for work (not at all unlike a fall morning), and on the way home, the sky had taken on a quality that I can only describe as autumnal. It was simply an aura that was conveyed by the heavens that the seasons had begun to change, damn near on the dot—i.e., the last day of August, that figurative month of Sundays (since it's the last month of summer). I kid you not, it even smelled like fall along the GW Parkway! Won't be long now before I don a light jacket and the leaves begin to change color.
   
   
3. Michigan's football program really can't get its shit together. This doesn't cause me any displeasure, mind you, because Michigan has rightfully earned its place as one of the top opponents that Penn Staters love to hate. But when you're caught practicing well beyond the NCAA-regulated hours, how sad is it that the whistleblowers to the Detroit Free Press are your own football players?
   

Just to get myself in the mood for football season . . .