I picked up a CD of Cara Dillon a while back and loved it, but then I sort of forgot about it. I was just listening to it again today and feel motivated to share. It's a mix of traditional and modern Irish folk music sung with an angelic voice.
"She turned me into a newt!"
*thinks about it for a sec*
"I got better."
- John Cleese
That's kinda how this week went. My car didn't have enough gas to start on Monday, so I left it at work all week and either took the bus or rode my bike to meet my ride each day. Yesterday, however, things came together nicely. I got paid (I thought I was going to have to wait until next week), cleared up my banking issues, and got both gas and a new windshield put in my car.
Life is good.
I attended my good friend Jason's wedding in NY this weekend. Here's a run-down of some of things that went wrong: (this is going to be long ...)
- I booked the flight for the wrong week. Fortunately, because of a nice provision of Expedia.com, changing the flight only cost the $5 booking fee and the increased cost of the new ticket ($55 bucks more). Not too bad in the end, but stressful.
- Freak weather (hail and downpours) convinced me that I needed new wiper blades for the 4.5 hour drive to Seattle, since my old ones were trashed. Stopping at Wal-Mart took much longer than I anticipated due to the super slow people in front of me.
- While gassing up, I put on the new blades. This was harder than I thought. I was in such a hurried state that I drove away from the gas pump with the nozzle still in the car. This is the first time I've done this. They were nice about it but it still took 10 minutes to fill out the paperwork. Now I was really running late.
- I pushed my poor car much harder than it deserved. I was cutting it close when I got to the airport, so I just parked my car in the general parking, figuring that a 1.5 day trip couldn't cost me more than $25-30. It cost $40.
- My flight was delayed 2.5 hours, and they had to switch me to a different transer in Detroit. While I was sitting there waiting, it never occurred to me to move my car.
- I got to Laguardia airport around 11AM Saturday morning. I hadn't slept a whole lot. The rental car I had reserved was gone, so I had to eat the cost of going to an upgrade. I didn't feel like fighting it, and in NY, you usually don't win anyhow. Plus, since I wasn't paying with a credit card, I had to swallow the extra $19 bucks for insurance. Great.
- I had directions to the kingdom hall where the wedding was originally scheduled, but due to a remodelling project, they moved it somewhere else. There was another brother there waiting for someone to bring him his car, so I was able to follow him. Enroute, we got stuck in the middle of a firemen's parade in some rinky-dink village, costing additional time.
- When I arrived at the hall at 1:55PM, I was still dressed down and hadn't showered, shaved, or brushed (teeth or hair). Turns out the wedding started at 1:30, but was 20 minutes late. After changing in the car I caught most of the ceremony, which was good.
- I left my camera at the reception. I hope I get it back.
- I drove that night to the home of some friends in the Bronx. They were sleeping when I got there at 11PM, and I left at 4:30 AM without ever seeing them. How sad.
- A tiny baby screamed his/her heart out for the first 15-20 minutes of my flight home. I think it had a hard time with the pressure change.
- Upon arriving in Seattle and being socked for parking, I stopped at a gas station, fueled up, checked my fluids, and then forgot to latch my hood. Ever since my encounter with the tree back in January, my hood takes special maneuvering to latch tight, and since it never really closes all the way anyhow, I have no visual indication that it's not really shut. As soon as I hit about 40-50mph on the highway, the hood flew up and took out my windshield. Thank goodness for saftey glass.
- After finally arriving home, I was feeling pretty good, and decided I would worry about how to handle all my unexpected expenses in the morning. I had spent a good deal of time on the drive planning some stuff for work, and I was looking forward to showing the boss. At 3:30 I woke up to what is either food poisoning or a hard-hitting flu. I spent the next several hours in extreme discomfort. I'll skip the details.
- Work was super hard today. I have no energy and have to hit the restroom every 20-30 mins. What a fitting conclusion to the weekend.
Some links I've enjoyed lately:
- Outstanding flash design.
- A couchbike? It's long, but worth the read.
- Wanna know what the Internet thinks of you? ... try www.googlism.com.
Here are a few results for "dan":
dan is swallowed by the table
dan is pressed for time
dan is an idiot
dan is having fun
dan is the superintendent of public works
dan is a sexy sexy man
dan is coming to visit
dan is taken away and sedated
dan is gone as everyone knows
dan is massive
dan is back with the banjo newsletter
dan is in good company
I started my new job last week Thursday, and so far I love it. And I have a great schedule that allows me to pioneer. Almost all is well.
Lastly, I heard on NPR that Passion of the Christ is the most illegally downloaded movie. How 'bout that for irony? The devout masses are so fervent about Jesus they'll steal to watch the movie. It was also cynically noted that Passion is an ideal Hollywood money maker. They don't have to pull any fancy tricks to produce a sequel. We already know that Jesus comes back! You can hear the rest here (requires Real Player). Just fast forward to minute 23.
Just had a job interview today. Looks like I might end up working for a company that does forecasting of power pricing. Got the lead through my old roommate, who has been working there for the past month. Looks to be a sweet job. I would be working part time, flexible hours, and getting to do some very creative work. I'll probably find out for sure next week.
If it pans out, I might have to put Genuwyn Systems on the shelf for the time being. That's a bit of a bummer, because although it was slow out of the gates, I was really feeling like things were starting to roll. Should I choose to resuscitate it in the future, it should be much easier the second time around.
The disturbing mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib is a slap in the face to those who feel the U.S. has taken the moral high road in liberating Iraq from a cruel dictator. It reminded me of the depraved abuse by the Nazis in WWII. What possessed so many to stoop so low, to completely supress their moral conscience? Although not nearly on the same scale, history repeated itself in Vietnam and now again in Iraq as American soldiers (and civilian contractors) who never would have considered such crimes before the war become desensitized. War changes people. The inherent evil in the whole mess comes through loud an clear as the absolute worst within people rises to the surface, on all sides. While these recent reports may be isolated cases reflecting a minority of the military, the images of entire crowds of Iraqis cheering as charred American bodies are displayed publicly is evidence that this same hatred can plague an entire culture. It would be naive to think it couldn't happen here. 1 John 5:19 wasn't kidding.