Algae rots by the side of the road where sand meets water. It's autumn, water's drizzling, gently tapping the top of the lake. My hands are cold but my warm leather jacket clings snugly to me. I can't wait to finish reading the final volume of "The Paris Review Interviews" and leave the interviews behind me; it's the feeling of finishing a course in quasi-modern and contemporary writing that I have not attended.

I'm walking around my work-place, seeing discarded, empty pill-boxes lie about. Those were handed out for free by the big Swedish political parties in the hey-weeks before the election, which is on Sunday. I wonder where the pill-boxes and other swag for the general populace will be come the weeks after the election.

It's interesting to see how Pittsburgh has incorporated the reasons of death from homicides and drug overdoses from the past four years into a map, named What's killing Pittsburghers?. Firearm/explosion is the most common cause of homicide, while prescription painkillers trump alcohol and cocaine as the most popular drug overdose.

And yes, I just had my 6-month probationary employment converted to a permanent one. Weee! Celebration time!