Runnin' down the road tryin' to loosen my load

A couple weeks ago (Or was it last week? Or three weeks ago?) I wrote a post on Thursday and attempted to time delay its publication on the blog until Friday. Unless I am mistaken, I was successful in this attempt. Yes, I know, I know, that makes me a very gifted human being. Thank you. I am here to announce today, Thursday the 15th of November in the 2012th year of our lord (of someone's lord, anyway), that I shall try for what was previously thought impossible: time delaying my post twice. Yes, brothers and sisters, you are reading the words of a Thursday again. I suggest you enjoy them.

Why, you (probably don't) ask, am I writing these words on a Thursday? Same reason I did last time. I'll be on the open road this time tomorrow. More on that later on in the post.

Last Friday, we (runners outside the top 7) drove down to Albany, New York, where we spent the night at the home of one of our number, whose parents are Sicilian and make excellent pasta. I have now been a passenger in a car driving through Albany twice in my life, and I have been in a car that has gotten a little bit lost in Albany twice in my life. Saturday morning, we drove to Westfield, Mass, where we watched the Middlebury Men's Cross Country team capture their first ever New England Regionals Championship. This is, for those of you who don't know (i.e. all of you), a very big deal. As a result of our performance, our top 7 will be competing again this weekend at the DIII National Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana. Again, more on that later.

Poor Sebastian. I was tickling him the entire time we stood there getting our picture taken again and again.

On Tuesday I, along with two group members, gave a presentation on this badass map:

Yes, the Netherlands is a lion, thank you for asking. (And no, Cole, this is not an error. Back in the day, the Netherlands did include what are now the separate countries of Belgium and Luxembourg. But nice try. (And now you're going to say you knew that too. I know, I know. We all know.))

I did finish Crime and Punishment, and I must say that I'd put it on my top shelf. (Not literally. My shelves are organized by alphabetically. Dostoevsky would probably be on the second shelf, someone between Dawkins and Fitzgerald. Maybe even third. I'm not sure.) I'd rank it above Hamlet and below Ficciones. Somewhere in there.
The following is a response to Ms. T's question about the epilogue. Spoilers? Yeah, I guess I should figure out that highlighting trick. Hmmm.
Got it.
The eilogue did provide some closure, which is nice in the sense that you get to see how Rasky has the potential to be rewarded for his decision to turn himself in. But I think I might have preferred the ending before the epilogue to be the final ending. I think, to a degree, it is obvious that turning himself in is the right call, and we really don't need to see that play out. Especially the bit at the end about the New Testament. It does turn out a bit preachy. Then again, we wouldn't really know what happens between Rask and Sonya, and between Raz and Dunya, without the epilogue. Oh, and what ends up happening to their mom. I think it is important to know these things. So in a way I'm glad the epilogue explained what it did, but I think the ending would have been more literarily elegant if there was no epilogue, albeit less informative. I guess there are a few ways you can do it. I'm thinking of The Grapes of Wrath, which does end without any real closure, but still had what is in my opinion one of the best ending to a book I've ever read, just because it absolutely nailed the message of the entire book in the span of a few paragraphs. But then look at the Odyssey. The exact opposite. You get complete closure on everything. I know comparing CaP to GoW and O is a little extreme, but my point is a great work of literature can be great regardless of whether or not it brings closure to the story. In the case of CaP, I think it's just difficult to say which is better.
Tuesday afternoon, Tuesday afternoon.
Big red balloon rhymes with Smurf-eating mushroom.
Butterfly cocoon? The cow and the moon?
Sing a little tune, about Tuesday afternoon.

What did I do on Tuesday afternoon? I went to a wee lecture, of course. Titled, "Making Sense of Deconversion in American Roman Catholicism". Subtitled, "The Life of Your Average Satterfield". Interesting stuff. People leaving the church 'cause, you know, people have better things to do on Sundays. Like having no post.

Note on the following section, about Islam: If you find yourself disagreeing with me, please consider the possibility that I am being sarcastic. After looking over what I have written, I have noticed that I switch in and out of sarcasm more than a few times, and it's not always clear when I do this. Especially towards the bottom.

We're reading some interesting takes on women in the Qur'an. As in, reading the bits of the Qur'an that talk about women, but more so reading interpretations of those sources, by Sunnis, Shi'ites, Sufis, Fundamentalists, etc. Lots to discuss there. And some less interesting takes on evolution. Less interesting because the arguments don't even bother addressing scientific evidence. Yes, we know you can prove it's wrong by doing nothing but quoting your scripture. We just wish you'd at least humor us by also proving it wrong with facts.
I guess the arguments about women don't address science either. So I shall reconfigure my implied statement: the arguments about women are interesting because they are so varied, in both explicit belief and in tone. Some of them are quite apologetic about the fact that woman's job is to bear children. Some of them are much less so.
(I have a friend here who sometimes read this, and she will accuse me of racism if I fail to mention that all Christians ever are just as guilty as all Muslims ever about these sorts of things. So that's what I just did. Mentioned it. Not racist. High-five me.)

Alright, done with that. On to the good stuff. ROAD TRIP.

Alas, we won't see CA Highway One, as pictured.

This is the plan:

- Leave Middlebury in two cars at 4:30 this afternoon. Well, yesterday afternoon if I remember how to time-delay this post.

- Spend the night in Rochester.

- Drive all day Friday, across sections of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. (Niagara Falls, perhaps?)

- Spend the night in Indianapolis.

- Drive to Terre Haute.

- Watch Midd XC dismantle (most of) the competition at Nationals.

- Drive all day Saturday after the meet.

- Keep driving through Saturday night.

- Return to Midd as the sun rises on Sunday.

Don't worry. Rand McNally's coming with me. So are lots of peanuts and sunflower seeds. And Anna Karenina. Which I really ought to start reading before Sunday, but probably won't.