Olbermann on Ferraro/Hillary Kerfufel

The More Things Change…

Unagii’s back is bothering him again, though the symptoms are less severe than previous episodes. After getting an encouraging report from the vet on Monday, though, I’m slightly more relaxed than I was the week before. Unagii’s back condition coincided with some rather tedious and soul-suckingly-awful development at work, so you can imagine the fantastic mood I’ve been inhabiting as of late, never mind all of this talk of “troop surges” and Iran.

Here are some things, however, that have helped allow me to smile.

John Hodgman	Patrick’s Quilting	Keith Olbermann
Leo Laporte	Podcasts	Stephen Colbert

Enough media nonsense for now. Tomorrow all will be better. Puppies will smile and babies will wag their tales. All will be right in the world. That is all (for now).

Olbermann on Rumsfeld

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Blonder

My apologies for not posting much recently, but I was spending entirely too much time “conquering the blank page”, “leveraging prior work”, and uh, writing a bunch of bullshit for work (pardon my French).� As such, the last thing I wanted to do was chat on GTalk, much less pull random thoughts and anecdotes from my nethers.� Enough said about that.

Things are better now.� I’ve spent the last few days relaxing, catching up on yard work, Keith Olbermann, and trying to bring my blood pressure back down out of the red zone.� Watching the Daily Show doesn’t help, unfortunately.� There’s too much craziness going on in the world (eg., Israel v. Hizbollah, America v. Terror, Kim Jong Ill v. Sanity) and too many nutters excited about it (eg., rapture-obsessed Christians, Mahdi-obsessed Muslims, South Park-obsessed Scientologists).� Jane!� Stop this crazy thing!

On a happier note, it now appears I’ll be back teaching at UCF this fall.� First, though, some history.� For three years, I taught electronic music technology for the UCF Music Department.� Then, less than a month before the semester started and as part of the ramp-up to accreditation, I was let go because my graduate work wasn’t in music (though it was in technology).� I almost returned to UCF to teach Digital Media this past spring semester, but unfortunately that fell through because of the split in UCF’s College of Arts & Sciences (the adjunct money for the department got slashed).

Well, that same class that I almost taught in the spring has now been offered to me for this fall.� The course is named “Internet and Interaction”, so as an excercise for the reader, I’d like your thoughts on exactly what that should mean.� As a hint, the two technologies that are expected to be taught include Flash and some kind of web programming language (eg., PHP, Perl, Ruby, etc.).� My goal is to carve up a course that includes the above, works in some web services, and really tries to capture the student’s interest.� Oh yeah, and maybe some Marshall McLuhan for good measure.

On top of that, I’ll also be teaching a survey of computer concepts course at Seminole Community College in the fall.� I’m really looking forward to this course because of its broad, shallow scope and non-technical audience.� In addition to the expected computer and Internet basics, I’m going to throw in some basics of programming and Internet cultural items to mix things up.� If I’m really cheeky, I might even find a way to tie in some of my material from the I&I course, my past Web Publishing course, and even my Computer Music course from way back.� Happy Happy, Joy Joy!

Spider asked for a schedule of my band’s performances, so until further notice, here’s the deal.� We’re booked to play the George and Dragon Wednesday nights from 7:30-12:30 until the British tourist season dies down, which typically occurs around October.� After that, we’ll be playing at the Cypress Cove Nudist Resort the Saturday night before Halloween.� Good times!

Finally, here’s a list of do’s and do not’s, from me to you!

Do

• Listen to the new albums by Muse and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke .
• Watch the new season of Cheap Seats on ESPN Classic.
• Check out MST3K’s Mike Nelson and his new project RiffTracks.
• Listen to Drew and Savannah on The Morning After Show on 105.9FM.

Don’t

• Freak out about the end of the world.� Doing the stuff above should help take your mind off the chaos.
• Stop.� Thinking about tomorrow!
• Waste your time watching the new Blade TV series.
• Miss any moment of the Colbert Report or Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

DC and Back Again

Wednesday morning, 6am, I was on a plane to DC. I had planned this trip a few weeks back, and I was dreading each moment that brought it closer. In general, I do really enjoy going to DC, but after all the stuff with my father and going down to WPB three times in the past two weeks, I was pretty much over going anywhere but home. It didn’t help matters any that the night before my flight, I was going with Patrick and some friends to see Imogen Heap at the Social. The concert got out around 12:30 after a decently long wait and opening by a former classmate of my brother’s Daniel Kiedis, but as always, Miss Heap was divine. Her live show has improved significantly since I saw her last in Philadelphia earlier this year. She even used a keytar!!

Anyway, back to DC. I had the unnatural luck of getting off my plane and to work in exactly one hour. Anyone who’s ever flown in to Dulles, or really any airport for that matter, can appreciate that waiting is the norm when traveling. On this occasion, I waited for nothing - nobody at the rental place, no traffic on the toll road, security that was ready for me. I got in to work, did my thing, and everything worked. Well, everything on my end, anyway. There’s just nothing in the world like loading up your team’s software and being able to sit back and smile when everything works the way it should. The only thing that comes close is when everything doesn’t work, but you know for a fact that its not your fault. Priceless.

Things were good enough Wednesday afternoon that I had absolutely no problem leaving a little early to go to my hotel and crash. The hotel was brilliant, only a month old, still steeped in that new everything smell. My evening was full of Lebanese food, relaxed boredom, and a little Keith Olbermann before bed. All-in-all a decent way to wind down.

The next day was even better as I managed to check off pretty much everything else on my list. Keri was due back from a business trip later that night, so I went back and napped a bit after work. We went out for Thai later that evening followed by some after-dinner belt shopping. I cannot understand why people spend over $100 for a belt, but then again, I have been told that I am quite cheap. Still, I did eventually find a decent belt on Friday at Target for a wapping $7. So much more worth it.

Work finished up early on Friday, and after turning in my rental with Keri, we went back to Arlington for dinner. I should have known better than believe that we’d find good Mexican in Arlington, VA, the capitol of pretentious dining, but it did come highly recommended. Keri and I were nauseated after only a few bites. Blech, just the memory of it makes me queasy. After retching, we drove up to Baltimore to see Tony. It was great to visit, even if it was all too brief. He’s doing really well up there and about to graduate with his masters from Peabody Conservatory. I can’t blame him for not wanting to leave that area, but Florida would be greatly enriched by his presence.

So are we bored yet? I must admit that my attention is currently split between this post and a back-to-back marathon of The Sopranos. Anyway, back to the story. Saturday we took our sweet time getting up but eventually made it out to the nearby farmer’s market. Past disparaging comments about Arlington aside, I did rather enjoy finding a farmer’s market within two blocks. I know that there’s zero likelihood of finding such a thing at our current home, but someday.

And therein lies the problem. Every time I go up to DC, I realize just what we don’t have in Orlando. I’m torn between the desire to have opportunities, excitement, and culture around every corner, to be with dear friends that I see far too infrequently, or to have my current life with family nearby, affordable housing that lets me garden, and the opportunity to work in three very seperate capacities at once. Either way, I’m not going anywhere soon. Given our current obligations, we’re not going anywhere for at least a year. Then, who knows.

Aight, I’m drifting off even as I type. Let’s wrap this story up with a quick “and they all lived happily ever after.” Tomorrow’s already here, and I guess I should sleep before it needs me. Night all.

Weekend

Let’s see, I’ve had a busy weekend! Here’s my list of accomplishments.

• Celebrated Erik’s birthday at Maria Bonitas
• Filled in for a friend at the last moment
• Planted a cherry tree in our front yard
• Wrote the final for my Valencia class
• Caught up on my Olbermann
• Watched some new Doctor

!! Doctor Who Semi Spoilers !!

Speaking of the Doctor, did I ever mention that I absolutely adore David Tennant? I don’t know if its the writing, the improved production values, or just the new Doctor’s positive, geeky, fanatic brilliance. His turn as the Doctor is quite simply fantastic! You watchers on SciFi will hopefully get a chance to see the second series that’s currently airing on BBC, but only if you spread the word and turn up the ratings! Now that those silly flatulent aliens are behind you, the episodes for the rest of the first series are all quite excellent. Keep watching, and buy the DVD of the entire first series when it (finally) comes out in July.