Be in the In crowd

Hoody hoo everyone. You know what? Science is hard. I'm going to need to start doing thesereadings away from comfy beds and distracting computers. Also around a lot of coffee would be great. If only there someplace, here in Ann Arbor, that catered to my needs.

Oh well.

And your special bonus for reading today: the playlist of a mix CD I put together after way to much work.

1. Russell Davies - Eat That Egg Fast (1:43)
2. Royksopp - Triumphant (4:20)
3. Vanessa John - Play In Traffic (4:54)
4. Wynonie Harris - Quiet Whiskey (2:28)
5. We're Not Really a Group - The Happy Song (0:50)
6. The Servant - Cells (4:50)
7. Tally Hall - Banana Man (4:29)
8. Jen Rathbun - Married, Buried Or Gay (3:26)
9. The Metasciences - Four-Color Love Story (2:03)
10. Jeremy Warmsley - 5 Verses (3:32)
11. KUPEK - On the other side of the world (3:04)
12. Saint Eve - No Human Words (5:29)
13. Masochist Monkey Circus - You’re An Animal (4:09)
14. Infinite Number of Sounds - The Red Human Headed Bull (5:09)

Bonus material- The Servant song was originally a classical piece by Jean Sibellius. It's beautiful but it didn't really fit so reluctantly I replaced it. I also wanted ot include for the longest time The Meltdowns - Matty Groves, but I couldn't find the proper place for it. 4/5ths of the songs and much more can be accessed by clicking a link I've previously posted.

Right now, because I care damnit, I'm trying to find a way to post the tracks for download and enjoyment. I believe the kids these days call it 'Podcasting'.

Well now

I must say vis a vis that whole having-a-job thing I still feel generally optimistic. True I'll need to really stoke the brain meats for the next few weeks but I bit of exercise will do them good. And if worse comes to worse who's to say that's really the worst? I'll take it as it comes, like the Buddha would.

Also, buying 5 gifts in 1/2 an hour at 6pm Christmas eve is great fun. And because few others would be so foolish, there were no lines at all. The saddest thing though is that I'll needs buy a copy of a gift or two for myself in the next day or two.

Right I lied, the saddest thing is probably the middle of A Christmas Carol, which the family and were lucky enough to catch on the tube on this of all nights. I mean sure Dickens turns the Pathos up to 11, but by golly it feels quite proper all the same. And now I go to bed to think on a day were unlikely the casual meanness and ignorance we normally inflict upon them, children are given presents. And adults too, but the children deserve them more. Good times, truly.

Sweet dreams everyone.

Hmmmmm!

A wise old bastard once said, "Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get me." That was true for him, and as it turns out, may yet be true for me. See all this time since I realized hoe close to the edge I was, I've waffled back on forth on how good I think my chances are for continued employment. Today I bit the bullet and straight up asked.

And it would seem that at the moment my beloved leader leans towards letting me go. Yesssss....ah. But not for sure. And it is this not insignificant sliver of doubt that I will be working on for the next month or so before she must make a final final decision.

Well if all else fails, I can always cut myself to make the pain go away. Plus, no one questions long sleeve shirts at this time of the year!

And that wise old bastard? His name was Richard Nixon.

Ho shits Christmas!

I have purchased nothing for anyone who isn't me for this 2005 holiday season. But at least I really like the things I've bought for me. I'll probably be out Saturday night then. Or very early Sunday...

Lets seeeee I'm donating blood again soon. Normally I don't mention personal charities for arcane religious reasons but I'm mentioning this now because anyone who's eligible should try and make an appointment at their local donor center. Holidays are rough on the blood supply and South East Michigan at least is one or two pileups away from running out.

The 137 page court finding in the Dover, PA Intelligent Design case is a really neat read. If you like that kind of thing.

And now, this weeks, 'I Heard it In The Lab.'

Scientist 1: Darn, why didn't I realize these were here before, I could have been eating these for hours already.

Scientist 2: Let me look at that bowl, I have a theory I want to confer with you about. Ah, so assuming an equal distribution to begin with it would appear that you prefer the white chocolate.

Scientist 1: It does appear so, but another possibility is that I preferentially selected white chocolate so that I could enjoy more dark chocolate in the end.

Scientist 2: ah good point, if nothing else we'll need to do a duplicate study.

Scientist 1: Mmm triplicate! I'll let (scientist 3) know that she must bring in some more.

Scientist 2: I'll write the grant!

Scientist 1: *crunch crunch*

Conclusion: chocolate covered pretzels are tasty.

Damn you Blog!

Well really nothing interesting has been going on around here so I suppose I should make something up. I already have a longish post ready about my own needlessly convoluted thoughts on spirituality and destiny. I'm gonna sit on that for a while though, sorry. In the meantime you can look forward to, Adventure, Danger, Suspense!

Or some such. As of today I am wholly adrift in the sea of science without my beloved and well paying boss who has seen fit to visit zee Germans for the next week. I am now responsible for two persistent mysteries, seven complicated experiments, and over 100 frozen, thinly sliced mouse brains. THE POSSIBILITIES TERRIFY ME.

Maggie hasn't called but I didn't expect her to. Finals you know.

Scott Pilgrim is awesome. I suspect Thom may be aware of it's existence even if he's not aware that he is aware. A brief snippet of dialogue:

Pilgrim: Can we go out sometime? Or, I mean, I mean...Can we maybe just hang out? Can we get to know each other? You're new in town right? I've lived here forever--I mean--I mean... There are...Reasons... For you to hang out with me?

Ramona: You're all over the place.

Pilgrim: But I'm so sincere!

Ramona: sincerely lame, maybe.

Anyway it's charming, don't judge me.

Finally I had a thought about my computer which is old and decrepit. Since it has two hardrives and two operating systems, is it not like a man with multiple personalities? One personality is stable, boring and for all intents and purposes the rightful owner of the hardware (Windows 2000).But there is another, alien, exciting, off kilter and a little immoral (Windows XP). Perhaps neither is wholly cognizant of the other. Perhaps the strange silences into which they plunge, for weeks at a time, confuse and bewilder my poor beleaguered C drive. Where did that program come from, how did all these files move from here to there, WHO IS TORMENTING ME?!?!!!!

Probably not. But one thing I do know is that it's darn near time to put the poor bastard out of it's misery. And what will come afterwards...lord only knows.

A final question: Why can't I get the cap off my bottle of white chocolate liquor? Is there even anything left inside of it? Damn you bottle!

Red like a communist

I find myself loath to wear the new contacts my insurance is so kind to bestow upon me. I don't know why I thought sticking a finger in my eye would be easy. Lord knows I seem to have done it to other people often enough. With sexy results. But yes it may not have been my finest thought to order them in the driest season of the year.

Yet I like the idea of wearing contacts. Perhaps the platonic ideal of non-icky, burning, complicated contacts but even so. They just seem more efficient then glasses.

...

That might not be enough, but by god I'm gonna try again tomorrow.

Some things, like a descriptive and evocative title.

So. That plan I had last week of not calling Maggie? It was a dumb plan, dumb dumb dumb, and I have abandoned it. In fact we chatted just now and she said she'd thought of calling me, so heck that's good enough in my book. As far as what we'll do next I have no idea, except that she's busier then I am so it'll be her schedule I need to be fitted to. Which means I don't need to make a plan, which is great because I'm lazy and I have a tendency not to follow my designs.

So that could turn out all right, I'm patient and generally optimistic.

I've decided I should spend less time on the computer. Specifically 100% less time on City of Villains until it decides to be fun again. Or Sam gets back to Dakota or which ever D state he's from. You know, whatever comes first. I had a pretty extensive reasoning worked out for why I didn't like the game anymore but it probably comes down to me being burned out and bored. I also don't think I'm likely to head back to World of Warcraft and with those timesinks out of the way maybe I'll finally get a chance to catch up on my reading.

Boss lady is flying back to Germany for some efficient family fun, and in the meantime she's learning me a lot of new techniques for all the projects I'll be doing while for that week and half. This is good for me, except that once she's gone and I screw up (it's a statistical certainty) I'll be running around like a chicken with it's head cut off only instead of a chicken it'll be a mouse and I won't be the one running around. You laugh sure...but it's happened...and it's pretty freaky.

The article still isn't done or maybe it is and I'm just not in the loop. Things are kinda confused at work right now since the boss boss is back with his parents tending to a sudden family emergency for an indeterminate amount of time.

I'm considering wallpapering my room with pages from old science fiction books. Hmmm.

A shiny nickle to the young fellow who can find an explanation for this!

Wooooooo!

Pistons! YEAH!

So we started up in the front row...of the balcony area. That didn't last, and we slowely trickled down to where we could make out individual tattos on the players. And that was totally awesome. Heeba geeba.