Thank Goodness it's Friday! Oh... What? Oh.

Random Thought #1
It's 5:48 a.m. That's like, in the morning, when Micky Mouse's little hand is pointing to the
"five" and his big hand is giving you a rude gesture. I've been working on updating a web site for the last hour or so, sitting here huddled over a lukewarm cup of instant coffee, dreaming of riding my motorcycle around the countryside.

I'm also listening to the snow and sleet rattle off the window next to me.

Do you think Mr. Snow Miser realizes that it's gonna be April next week? Has anyone told him that we're supposed to be in the 50's and 60's by now -- NOT the 20's and 30's?

Mr. Snow Miser came to visit on Halloween and never left. No offense, Mr. Miser, but golly, it's time for you to go home... Please. No, really. Go.


Random Thought #2
8:30 a.m.; I've been at my lousy stinky rotten day job for half an hour now.

I'm gonna get in trouble for saying this (my wife is more private than I and doesn't like me sharing such things), but Dagmar's been terribly ill lately, and I'm worried about her. I hate leaving her home alone when she's ailing, but my bosses insist that work is more important than my wife. (I shouldn't say such things, but I'm having a hard time not being resentful today.)



Random Thought #3
9:20 a.m.; A good song just came on the radio (I listen to Pandora.com at work sometimes). "The voice sounds familiar," I thought. "I love the melody. Way cheesy keyboard though, I'm surprised they let that in the recording without running it through an EQ, or at least turning the velocity down on the board..." Turns out it was a Buddy Holly song I'd never heard ("Take Your Time"). They probably recorded the thing with one microphone dangling in the middle of the room or something -- no wonder the keys sounded odd. The other big surprise is that there's a Buddy Holly song I'd never heard. I bet it was on the flip side of a record I had as a kid and I just never listened to it, being all entranced by whatever was on the "A" side. (And no, I'm not THAT old -- I just led a sheltered life.)

And, strangely enough, the song before it was a Foo Fighters thing, and the song after was something by Ozzie. I'm trying to figure out what the three have in common...



Random Thought #4
10:50 a.m.; Whoohoo! An e-mail! Human contact! Aw crud, it was junk mail.



Random Thought #5
11:04 a.m.; Two musical thoughts: Frank Zappa plays everything really really fast on his live albums and it scares me. Observation two: Have you ever noticed that the only real difference (sonically) between Dire Straits and Pink Floyd is the amount of reverb on the instruments? I've always liked both bands, mostly for the "deep" sound and quality mix (I could care less what they're singing about; to be honest I kinda wish they didn't sing at all -- it gets in the way of the instruments), but I never really noticed that the mix is nearly identical for both bands -- a nice bass tone, good reverb, and clean percussion. Huh.



Random Thought #6
11:32 a.m.; I've lost all interest in work. All I wanna do is go home and see Dagmar and work on my freelance stuff. I'm down to the "sitting and staring" stage. Must be time for lunch, I guess.



Random Thought #7
1:20 p.m.; Took an hour lunch, have been doing my impersonation of a slack-jawed gawker for the last hour, staring at my computer, vacantly.

You know, much as I like Rush, Geddy Lee still sounds like an angry muppet to me. He's a helluva bassist, but his voice is a bit startling, especially when you're not expecting it. Here's a 1975 video of Rush. They were about 20 or 21 at the time...



Oh, and I've decided that today I like Dire Straits better than Pink Floyd.

The other day I noticed Sioux City smelled odd. Worse than usual. Turns out our 5th District Representative and high school graduate, Mr. Steve Arnold King, was in town that day. Mr. King wants to make cock-fighting legal in Iowa. He got up in front of Congress one day with a toy model of a wall and asked our government to give Mr. King, his son, and his neighbor $1.5 million a mile to build a 400+ mile wall between the United States and Mexico. Then he said they could string electric wire on the top of the wall -- "we do it with cattle all the time." I guess I always thought Hispanics were human beings... Just lately he said that we shouldn't vote for Senator Barack Obama because of his middle name. Strong words for a man named after America's best known traitor. I find the man's politics disagreeable, I think he relies on creating fear to get himself re-elected, and I plan on voting for Rob Hubler in the fall. Unlike King, Hubler is a college graduate (politics, philosophy and divinity), a veteran (he served in the Navy during the Vietnam era and graduated from the Navy's Nuclear Power School), and is a minister to boot.



Random Thought #8
2:55 p.m.; To say I'm having trouble focusing on my work would be an understatement. I think I have a popcorn hull stuck in my teeth. It's maddening. Maddening.



Random Thought #9
3:49 p.m.; Ooh! An e-mail! Contact with humanity! Yay! Oh crud... more junk. I did get a message from my sister earlier today. It made me feel slightly less lonely.

Just over an hour to go until I can go home to check on my beloved Austrian Snowflake and get back to work on my freelance projects. The problem is that after getting up at 4:30 to start working on the computer, then working on another computer from eight to five, well, it's kinda hard to be motivated to go home and work on the computer some more -- even though those are MY customers. I enjoy the work I do at home, but I'm getting tired. The work's gotta be done, though. I need a weekend. Not to relax, but just a good two-day stretch where I only have to work one job instead of two. Whine whine whine.

The ballast in the fluorescent light above my desk burned out about a month ago. I've been sitting in the dark ever since. I can't convince the boss to fix it. I wish I had a lamp.



Random Thought #10
5:11 p.m.; Home now, wearing my happy pants. Dagmar's still feeling ill, watching German movies in the other room. I hugged her tight. Back at the computer now... Why does the cat always wanna sit in my lap when I have things to do?



Random Thought #11
6:20 p.m.; The hell with it. I'm gonna take a break and eat. I am, after all, not nearly pudgy enough already. (I'm going by the theory that if your age is greater than your waistline you're okay. Pass the M&M's please.)

I'm waiting for the day I find myself dipping M&M's in melted butter. It's gonna happen.



Random Thought #12
6:40 p.m.; Hey, when did all the TV stations start covering their screens in logos and promos for the next show and crawlers telling me all sorts of stuff I don't need to know? This is really starting to bug me -- it's getting to the point where there's always something hopping up and down in the corner of the screen... It's hard to watch the show I WANT to watch.

Think maybe we can all band together and send in a petition or something? I think I might write 'em a letter.

"Dear Television Executive: This whole thing about having six logos and a bouncy thing on the TV screen makes me feel frantic and upset. I'll make you a deal -- you tell your people to stop cluttering up my screen and I'll see what I can do about these voices in my head that are telling me to go pay you a visit in person..."

Oops, soup's done. Gotta eat now.



Random Thought #13
7:16 p.m.; Back at the computer. I'm feeling really chained to this thing. I wish I could go ride the bike or take some photos or something. Oh well. Work's gotta be done.



Random Thought #14
9:12 p.m.; The hell with it. I'm gonna go take a nap. My cat just bit me, the big dummy. Good night everyone.



Random Thought #15
4:11 a.m.; Time to start over. Hello computer, hello work...