Bang and Whimper

Normally I don’t enjoy my work very much (the people are great, but it is work), but I’m abusing the newly installed media player on my government workstation by listening to KEXP, a Seattle, WA radio station that broadcasts a WMA stream over the web. They consistently have the best playlists of any radio station I’ve ever heard. They’re about to play the Magnetic Fields, they agreed to play my request for Stars (though they said they play them fairly often, anyway), and I’m currently listening to the colorful crooning of Jeff Buckley. Thank you, KEXP.

NP: Jeff Buckley, Hallelujah

Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday dear Michael
Happy Birth… oh, whatever.

NP: The Trash Can Sinatras, The Genius I Was

I’ve been meaning for months to put up a link to Wil Wheaton’s site. You may remember Wil as one of the kids from Stand By Me, or as Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation, but it turns out that nowadays ol’ Uncle Willie keeps himself extra busy by, among other things, maintaining his own website. And it also turns out that Wil Wheaton is one cool kid. Seriously. Check out the site and tell me he isn’t farking cool.

NP: Stars, The Aspidistra Flies

What a drag. I’m finally feeling up to some real physical activity after having surgery on my shoulder/back on Tuesday, so my roommate and I went to the gym today to do a bit of climbing at the wall (I was looking forward to trying out my new harness). As luck (ever my friend) would have it, the wall was closed. It was also closed last weekend, so I haven’t done any climbing in over a week. My strength is waning, I’m beginning to lose my balance, my focus, my fearlessness, and all those qualities I have been cultivating to make me the ultimate climbing machine I was last week before the surgery. Now, I’m sure, I’m back to being a novice.

I popped up to NYC Friday to see a good friend who’s getting married in June. She lives in England now, but was on a layover on her way back to Colorado, where the wedding will occur. I drove into the city Friday morning and miraculously found parking on 57th St. We tooled around Central Park for an hour or two and walked down to the Russian Vodka Room. It wasn’t open yet, so we had some coffee and a cannoli at a non-Starbucks™ (dear lard, Starbucks™ is everywhere in NYC!) to pass the time. We then had some deliciously wonderful flavored vodkas at the ol’ RVR and called it a day. And what a day it was…I love NYC.

NP: Belle and Sebastian, If You’re Feeling Sinister