Foods

Yes, AG is still busy. Chew on this while you wait for more AG treats. more...

The Butterfly Collector

After a spirited discussion about radio and music and iPods that ranged over several blogs, and featured Bad Religion, AC/DC and Def Leppard, I got kind of curious about how Pandora compares. So here is the first ten songs served up by a Quickmix of all my playlists:

Rancid- Cocktails

The Replacements - Color Me Impressed

Velvet Underground- I'm Waiting For The Man

Tears for Fears- Head Over Heels

Patti Smith - Trampin'

Thirteen senses - Into The Fire

The Clean - Flowers

Porcupine Tree - The Sky Moves Sidways

Fish - Just Good Friends

Felt - Something Sends me to Sleep

Interesting, half of those songs are not on my hard drive, and 2 were from bands I hadn't heard before. But as far as an inspirational mix, it was strictly meh. Good songs, but not much synchronicity between them. And fortunately for the mental well-being of CERTAIN BLOGGERS, Pandora waited until the 11th song to play "Viva la Vida".

For comparison's sake, here is the first ten off my iPod:

999 - emergency

Todd Rundgren - Happy Anniversary

Randy Newman - My Little Buttercup

Jimmy Cliff- Shelter of Your Love

The The - Voidy Numbness

XTC - Blue Overall

Minutemen - There Ain't Shit on TV Tonight

The Leaves - Hey Joe

Grant Lee Phillips - Boys Don't Cry

PJ Harvey - No Girl So Sweet

Well, there were four there that I wouldn't have been able to identify just from listening, and the Randy Newman was a left field clunker. But the 999 and the XTC were great. The rundgren was a bit techno boopy for me, but the finish with PJ Harvey rocked.

experiment non-conclusive. Further debate and study is needed.

Listening to The Higsons

Late October is always a weird time for me. A tough time. Emotions run bleak; most things seem to be more trouble than they're worth. Maybe it's a genetic memory from nomadic ancestors, who knew that the time had come to seek warmer climes, and those who would stay behind weere going to die; maybe it's just a dark musing that this, THIS may be the year that the Snow Shoveling Angel adds me to the list. In any case, it's not pleasant, for me or people around me.

And when I wake up in the morning

To feel the daybreak on my face

There's a blood that's flowin'
Through the feeling, with a knife
To open up the sky's veins

Some things will never change
They stand there looking backwards
Half unconscious from the pain

They may seem rearranged
In the backwater swirling, there is
Something that will never change

Eventually, of course, it fades. The manic depressive cycle starts swinging back up, and by the holidays, I recognize that I haven't thought about joining the Merchant Marine for ... hours, even days.

And then there are days, years, that it suddenly swings the other way. Mundane events, everyday things, and suddenly it's just Autumn again, not the End Of The World.

And when I shoulda been gone a long time
Laughs and says, I find ways
Just when we're sheltered under paper
The rockets come at us sideways

Some things will never change
They stand there looking backwards
Half unconscious from the pain

They may seem rearranged
In the backwater swirling, there is
Something that'll never change

Today, it started while I was taking the Young Zombie to the doctor, and in between medical professionals, I got a phone call from the contractor on a project. We're waiting for the client to close on the construction loan, at which point we get paid, and the closing is imminent. except it seems the attorneys have decided they need to pad their billings, and found a minor loophole that is likely to become an emergency tomorrow morning at a meeting.

After all the trials and drama all year, all I could do was laugh. Not bitterly, but just an honest laugh at human comedy.

Hey, I'm blind
Good, fine
Roll the time
On whose dime

And when I wake up in the morning
To feel the daybreak on my face
There's a blood that's flowin'
Through the ceiling, with a knife
To open up the sky's veins

When we got home, I sat at the Powerbook to continue working on some marketing items, and checked in to some of the bloggerhood to see what was going on. Hey, some illness, some Zardoz, some things I don't understand. World turning. And as I was turning back to work, Pandora (on a CVB list) served up one of my favorite songs from the Meat Puppets, Backwater. From their major label near-success, Too High To Die.

Some things will never change
They stand there looking backwards
Half unconscious from the pain

They may seem rearranged
In the backwater swirling, there is
Something that'll never change

Some things will never change
They stand there looking backwards
Half unconscious from the pain

They may seem rearranged
In the backwater swirling, there is
Something that'll never change

And it was time to make some dinner, and the dog needed her back scritched, and it was just a night in November, and next week we'll be doing the holiday with my brothers, who have their own issues, and 2 billion years from now the entire planet will be an ice ball; so I made myself a drink, started dinner, and headed off to fish's to make a mess......

Going Tribe

Mom, I'm just going to give you my Facebook login info so you can keep track of what my friends are up to and can stop bugging me about it.

Found here:

more...

Breaking Rocks

Tuesday George:

Cats have a quality I find admirable: blamelessness. When a cat makes a mistake, he doesn't accept responsibility or show embarrassment. If he does something really stupid, like jumping onto a table and landing in four separate coffee cups, somehow he passes the whole thing off as routine. Dogs aren't like that. If a dog knocks over a lamp, you can tell who did it by looking at the dog; he acts guilty and ashamed. Not the cat. When a cat breaks something, he simply moves along to the next activity.

Ponderable

It makes sense to AG. Complete and total sense. Go ahead, see if you can guess why. I double dog dare you. more...

South by Southwest

AG is off to the islands to play single doctor Jewish girls and American hottie doctors tomorrow. Don't wait up. No, really!

Kitty has been dropped off at the cat sitter's. AG cried the entire ride home following. My love for her knows no bounds. I will make no excuses.

Brandeis won't be riding bitch. He and kitty's brother are flying in the following week. A brother that has been warned by Thor that if he lays so much as one half of an inch of claw on her, her momma will take that cat apart cell by cell. AG is the front runner for the job having dissected a cat in high school biology class for the win -- this is not her first rodeo!

Cuba will follow for Valentine's Day along with the offer AG accepted last night for Bulgaria, Croatia, and Vienna because Vienna no longer waits in June. Oh and yes, somebody else knows about AG's Upper Westside Ghetto favorite that can fill space while killing time in between.

The 40th birthday party is being planned for France. (Not mine, you goofs.) A mere eight days before the AG birthday. Two breasts, blue eyes, and witty repartee is generally all that it takes.

Yes, AG is avoiding December this year as she hides out between Manhattan and California. Ivy League Membership has it's advantages. For all others there are the failures of Harvard and Notre Dame.

AG is outtie for a few weeks.

So You Know

There is a plethora out there for us non married extra lucky folks:

This

This

This

I am so glad I got off the merry-go round because single people today are so fucked. They are so categorically fucked that some surgical cobag has patented the procedure for their genitals to be surgically latexed. It saves on the condom costs and let's be honest -- that it just hot when you are going for the random hook-up. And if you are an older woman in this patriarchy:

This is really fascinating, what's going on at this table. Let's take you and Erica. You've been around the block a few times. What are you, around 60? 63. Fantastic! Never married, which as we know, if you were a woman, would be a curse. You'd be an old maid, a spinster. Blah, blah, blah. So instead of pitying you, they write an article about you. Celebrate your never marrying. You're elusive and ungetable, a real catch. Then, there's my gorgeous sister here. Look at her. She is so accomplished. Most successful female playwright since who? Lillian Hellmann? She's over 50, divorced, and she sits in night after night after night because available guys her age want something-forgive me, they want somebody that looks like Marin. The over-50 dating scene is geared towards men leaving older women out. And as a result, the women become more and more productive and therefore, more and more interesting. Which, in turn, makes them even less desirable because as we all know, men- especially older men- are threatened and afraid of productive, interesting women. It is just so clear! Single older women as a demographic are about as fucked a group as can ever exist.

Thank you cookie jesus for teaching me the art of schtupping and walking away. Sticking my finger in his tuckus to teach him who is boss before rounding the corner out the door: priceless.

Another for the Bin

Good.

Not good:

AG was shown this t-shirt over the weekend.

Maybe I am a humorless Feminist, but it pissed me off.

I asked the owner whether he preferred it for the sexism or the misogyny.

Silence.

We did not make-out. more...

Dot Dot dot

....non-objectionable Zombie Caturday-On-Sunday version

Tip 1590:

When the phone is not ringing, that would be others NOT calling you.

Good to Know

AG has menorah, will travel. more...

The Real McDonnell

After visiting Appalachia this past fall and seeing first hand the miseducation of the American underclass, I fired up the AG personal e-mail account. I snapped a photo that I shared last month pimping Bob McDonnell and "clean coal." Wanting to know what exactly this 'Clean Coal' thing is about, my fingers danced across the keyboard. More than a month later, the below unedited dribble from the lackey who replied, is what arrived in my e-mail box:


AG: "Bob, what is clean coal?"

BMcD's Lackey:

Dear Dr. AG:

Thank you for contacting the Bob McDonnell for Governor Campaign.

In 2006, the economic impact of the coal mining industry in Virginia was nearly $2.4 billion, creating 11,082 jobs,

8,884 of which are located in Southwest Virginia. Bob McDonnell will continue to support Virginia’s coal plants that use modern technology to offer a balance between cost, reliability and environmental impact.

There has also been great progress made toward carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology for our coal mines. Carbon capture and storage technologies are a method of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by capturing and injecting underground the carbon dioxide emitted from electricity generation plants that use fossil fuels. Dominion is currently partnering with Virginia Tech and the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research to study the potential for carbon storage in coal seams in Southwest Virginia. The Department of Energy and regional partners recently completed injection of 1,000 metric tons of CO2 and are currently performing post-injection monitoring.

The federal stimulus package includes funding for potential carbon capture and storage projects. We need to make sure these funds are leveraged correctly so that our university-based research can capitalize on this great opportunity.

To read more about the specifics of Bob’s energy plan, please visit http://bobmcdonnell.com/index.php/issues/issue_green

We hope this answers your question. Please email us if you have any further questions.

Sincerely,

Tyler Southall

I'll tackle the science and energy part tomorrow along with the real job numbers, but I wish to highlight that the Republican is talking about taking federal money. Oh, he'll take it. Oh yez. Right now! Interesting because if it weren't for the Democrats that are saving Hurricane Bush damage,the Republicans wouldn't have money to stake claims on while saying they are fiscally responsible and not spenders.

Happy Anniversary

From Wikipedia:

Up until the late 1960s, the use of television as an educational tool in the US was "unproven" and "a revolutionary concept". In 1966, the Carnegie Institute hired Joan Ganz Cooney to study how the media could be used to help young children, especially those from low-income families, learn and prepare for school. Cooney proposed using television's "most engaging traits", including high production values, sophisticated writing, and quality film and animation, to reach the largest audience possible. Cooney suggested creating a program that would spread prolearning values to both viewers and nonviewers (including their parents) that would affect them for many years after they stopped watching it.

Happy 40th Birthday, Sesame Street! Congratulations on being the first socialist indoctrinator of American children. The tea bag crowd is coming for you next!

From the Google today:

Fuck You, Virginia

You are stupider than Connecticut.