UNFILED

Wed - December 8, 2004

Work update

Big meeting at work this morning had some positive moments. While nothing is set, there is more cause for optimism that the "gap" funds will be found and we'll be able to finish out the school year instead of ending work in April.

While I have been beginning to perversely delight in the thought of unemployment, it is my main interest to finish out the school year.

---
Recent adds to the Collection: "Transatlanticism" Death Cab for Cutie (2003), "Genius Loves Company" Ray Charles (2004), "Skittish/ Rockity Roll" Mike Doughty (2004), "The 3 EPs" Beta Band (1999), "Lovesick (VS)" Bob Dylan (2004)

Posted at 11:59 PM

Sun - December 5, 2004

odds and ends

Busy time with schoolwork and job-work casting long shadows... blotting out whatever sunlight would have been creeping into my days.

One of my close friends was fired for comments made on her blog!

Had a good time chilling w/ H2 over the weekend. He was in town for interviews at UCHICAGO & Northwestern.

Posted at 12:00 AM

Thu - November 25, 2004

Happy Thanksgiving

Just try to do something nice for someone else on Friday when you're fighting to get a bargain at 6AM or on Monday when the holidays are just a memory. If we can all take some of the humility and appreciation of our good fortunes to the rest of the world when we don't have a holiday nudging us towards it --- well, that'll be something to be thankful for.

Posted at 11:03 PM

Mon - November 22, 2004

JFK reloaded

I'm not a video-gamer, but I found this write-up on "JFK Reloaded" really fascinating.

--
Recent adds to the collection (many courtesy of TS): "aMotion" A Perfect Circle (2004), "The Tigers have Spoken" Neko Case (2004), "Stones Throw 101" (2004), "Trouble" Ray LaMontagne (2004), "Band of Gypsies" Hendrix (1969), "Baez sings Dylan" Baez, "Live at Birdland" Coltrane (1963), "Van Lear Rose" Loretta Lynn (2004), "Dylan Country" (2003), "De Stijl" The White Stripes, "The London Collection: V1" Thelonius Monk (1971), "Saxophone Colosus" Sonny Rollins (1956), "Trampin'" Patti Smith (2004), "Gotta Serve Somebody" Various Gospel (2003), "At Folsom Prison" Johnny Cash, "The Boy's Doin It" Hugh Masekela (1975/98), "Live at Filmore East" Jimi Hendrix, "Bitches Brew" Miles Davis (1970)

Posted at 11:44 PM

Mon - November 15, 2004

Ides of November

I had a very nice weekend with the family. My niece turned 5 this week and this was her time. She had a small family birthday party on saturday, and big birthday party with lots of other kids on Sunday. Two birthday cakes! The lucky kid. Her favorite movie is "the Wizard of Oz" which was the theme of the party.

--
Recent adds to the collection: "Chimes of Freedom" [EP] Bruce Springsteen (1988)

Posted at 11:28 PM

Thu - November 4, 2004

Condolences

PK, a friend of mine from the Peace Corps, passed away last week. He died of cancer at the age of 28. We found out today. It came as a complete shock as many of us had lost contact with him. I spent a significant part of the evening being the bearer of bad news, because I believe you ought to hear this sort of thing from someone who cares rather than just skimming across it in a group email. The consequence is that it's almost 2AM, and only now is it all really starting to sink in. Memorial services will be in Denver on Saturday, while I will be unable to venture out there I believe someone from our group will be representative. Eish.

Posted at 01:55 AM

Wed - November 3, 2004

What america do you want to live in?

I'll say that I'd be disappointed if the reported results in Ohio hold true. And, now it seem like they're reporting that Kerry is conceding.

I stayed up until about 3AM transfixed by the happenings, before the realization that eventhough I can go into work late Wednesday -- that I still have to go in to work -- kicked-in.

I'm weary of the prospects of a second-term for President Bush. Mostly because he didn't govern like a "center-right" president after he campaigned as a compassionate conservative 4 years ago. This time he campaigned further to the right, which implies that he'll govern even further to the right*. He's not the kind to make the necessary compromises to attempt to heal the divisions in the country. I started to list the things that i'm concerned about, but that's too long a list and I'm tired enough to miss something on it. Suffice it to say, that in a political system that forces people to make "binary" decisions on issues there can't be much room in the middle and polarities necessarily emerge. It's just a shame that we're the one's that have to live through it.**

Still Senator Obama often says that when you get beyond the buzzwords -- people have more in common that we're told. I don't have that level of faith, but I'm glad that there are people like him out there that do have that kind of faith and continue to believe in a ideal of a tolerant reasonable America. I hope that he, and others, work toward that ideal. I know that I will in my own way. This weblog, however, will try to move away from political discourse and stay more in the general realm of the (increasingly related) "culture gap".

There were two predictions that i did get right: 1> we wouldn't know definitively on Tuesday night, and 2> that the "Gay marriage ban" propositions would bring out droves of voters in the red states insuring turnout and helping the total numbers (and perhaps delivering OH to the republicans). I watched coverage of the night on ABC & FOX (taking breaks to catch bits of the NBA games on TNT), On ABC, Fareed Zakaria pointed out that from the rest of the world's point of view this really is two countries. The "blue" americans share views on social issues with the rest of industrialized world (W. Europe, Japan, East Asia), whereas the "red" americans take social positions more like what you'd see in Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. I thought that characterization was overstated but fair.

What a crazy world we live in. We do it to ourselves, and that's what really hurts.

--
Recent adds to the collection: "from a basement on the hill" Elliot Smith (2004), "eMotive" (2004) A Perfect Circle

*and without having to think about re-election, with the "training-wheels" off. There's no telling how much "adventurism" we'll see in foreign and domestic policy.

** I talked about this w/ MET earlier in the week. It scares me that the extremists are driving global policy these days. rasPUTIN in russia isn't a reasonable man, the neo-cons and Mullah Bush with his god-given policy directives aren't reasonable characters. certainly the "osama-ists" in the muslim world are a small faction w/ disproportionate sway over global affiars and are very far from reasonable. it's only the "hardline" Israelis that have ever accused Sharon of being reasonable.

Posted at 10:08 AM

Mon - November 1, 2004

Manic mondays

There's a line in "common people" that I've been stuck on for a few days now. "Everybody hates a tourist". Think about it.

I like the APC version of "Imagine". But, you have to listen to it on a good stereo. Otherwise the quality of the music doesn't come through and the song seems average at best. If I get the work done that I need to get done on Tuesday, I'll pick-up a copy of "eMotive" and maybe Eliot Smith's posthumous album. Otherwise, all that will wait until Wednesday.

This weblog is going to get a little more "journalish" in the coming months. I'm going to move the formalisms to other projects that have been kicking around in my head for a while now. Now, you can't say that I didn't warn you.

Mondays are a little crazy for me. I have this class at night that just kicks my ass regularly. The funny thing is that before class is our staff meeting at work, which is an environment I typically shine in (note: the thing I like about my job is that the folks at my level have a tremendous amount of input into the direction of the org). I go from being super-comfortable in my element to being utterly uncomfortable in a matter of minutes. I come home mentally and emotionally exhausted.

I was given a Kerry-Edwards sign by a kindly African American gentleman at the Garfield stop on the Red-line tonight after a brief chat about where the nation is going on my way home after class. I carried the sign from the south side to the north side and got into a surprising number of political talks on the train tonight. There's an uncertainty in the air that is unmistakable.

With the election upcoming, I ought to write up a formal endorsement or something. Instead I'll simply link to Rasml, who often writes along the political lines I'm thinking about.

Posted at 11:18 PM

Songs you'd like to hear at a wedding?

Falling Forward

Odds & Ends [Updated]

Around Town

Notes from around the way

no working title [updated]

Song played by sunflower being crushed by steel-toed boot