Observations

Muggings

Strange: Though Nalgenes are the beverage container of choice, I also see a lot of students, and quite a few faculty and staff, carrying plain old kitchen coffee mugs around campus. At my 8:30 meeting this morning, I had a to-go cup of coffee from the snack bar, one prof had a travel mug, and three had ceramic coffee cups, still full of steaming hot coffee. I wonder if there's a discount I haven't heard about yet...

iOdd

Stranger: The iPod is as ubiquitous around Carleton as anywhere else in the Western world, but lately I've seen the kids wearing their earbuds in an odd way: with the little length-control slider right up under their chins, so the cord runs straight up, then bifurcates to go to each ear. It looks vaguely militaristic, for some reason.

Camo

Strangest: I've seen again this fall a student who dresses entirely and constantly in camouflage: hat, jacket/shirt, and pants. Actually, not "entirely," I guess: he completes the look with some white running shoes. There aren't many places where an all-camo outfit is less useful, tactically, socially, or politically, than Carleton, yet there he is, speeding over to the libe in his uniform.