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4-9-03 // 4.34 pm there's always drinks and dancing in the rubble NP: Matt Good - "Avalanche" Early album of the year candidate? I only have a month's worth of listening under my belt, but so far it's definitely that solid of a release. I'm sure I'll write up a lengthy review at some point in the near future. I worked like a dog today, and to top it all off, I had this hour long "information security" seminar thing to attend. The information presented was useful, need-to-know type stuff, but really, it was all stuff I've heard many, many times before. Plus, the presenter (it was some guy in the Maryland office, I think, coming to us via teleconference) had this vaguely smug, derisory tone of voice going. So the overall effect was that of boredom. I was aching to get out, especially since I had real work to attend to. So yeah, busy day. But I'm done with all sorts of things, which is always a good thing. A pet peeve of mine is that management is always stressing to us that we should "utilize" our senior engineers and other higher-up types. Which is a fine idea, and I appreciate having that sort of knowledge base at my disposal. But at the same time, there have been several times this week when I've had a quick, very specific question to ask a chief but have been sort of brushed off. I know they're very busy people, especially these days, but internally, it sort of makes me feel conflicted, you know? Like I try not to bother them too much, but management is always urging us on to ask them questions and use them, and how they're always willing to help, etc -- but at the same time it drives me nuts when I can't even get 60 seconds (that's all the time I've needed this week) of their time. Hrm. I realize this is nobody's fault, and that it's just an issue of everyone being overworked, but at the same time, it's very frustrating. I haven't heard from Ryan H in like a week and a half. Which isn't that long, really, but considering we usually swap emails several times a week, I'm wondering where he's gotten to. I'm sure it's just a continuing case of him being busy with work and wedding prep stuff, not to mention being sick. Either way, I'll probably give him a call later this week if I don't hear anything before then. It felt good to shave this morning. I meant to do it yesterday, but never got around to it. In any case, I had like four days' growth on my face by this morning, and I was getting to be a bit scruffy. I dunno, I just like the way the skin on my face feels after a shave. Conflicting feelings du jour: the excitement of watching happy-as-hell Iraqi citizens team up with American tanks to lasso/knock over garish statues of Saddam Hussein vs. the loathing I feel towards the fact that the US keeps bombing things like hospitals and hotels. Something like 100 people are thought to have died in an attack yesterday, to which the US military more or less responded "oops, we'll try not to do that again". I realize that in every war there's going to be some collateral damage, but it just feels like in this current war, it's been excessive and the claims to be trying to curtail it merely seem like lip service. A song that I've recently come to appreciate quite a bit: Grey Street, Dave Matthews Band. It's one of those songs where every instrument is moving in perfect awareness of the other, where the vocals are just right, and the emotion just jumps right out. This has then led to a better appreciation of the band's "Busted Stuff" album, which for my money, is (finally) the band's first honest-to-Zarquon great album (I'm talking all the way through). They've come close before, but I mostly though of them as makers of a smattering of great singles, one above average LP ("Under the Table and Dreaming"), and otherwise as a long-winded jam band of choice for drunken frat boys. ("dude, they've got a fiddle and a saxophone -- whoa") But of course, that's a prejudiced and stereotypical point of view, and while they'll never be my favorite band, over the past year or so I've warmed quite a bit towards ol' Dave Matthews. Wow, it's finally almost time to get out of here for the day. It couldn't have come soon enough.
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