Intergalactic House of Paisley

Friday again? Another year gone by, and many changes and strangeness there were in it. Some I could have done without, others have made me re-evaluate what I thought I couldn't (or wouldn't) do, with interesting (to say the least) results. But now, musics.

1) the_same_haunt, Panic Years

2) Woman, John Lennon

3) This Barstool's Reserved For My Heart, David Lindley & Wally Ingram

4) 1956 and all that, McLusky

5) I Feel Out Of Control, elbarto&liamb

6) A Postcard to Nina, Jens Lekman

7) We Were Rock & Roll, Janelle Monáe

8) T'Mershi Duween (Truncated), Frank Zappa

9) Please Be My Third Eye, La Sera

10) die Folterkammer des Dr. Sex, The Vampires of Dartmoore


You want MORE?!?!? Oh, ok


11) I Should Get Up, Teddy Thompson

12) Rosemary, Carmina Piranha

13) The Battle Of The Little Man, World Party


After work will be the birthday dinner, with a quest to find someplace that still has Foeder Projekt #1 from Boulevard on tap. Bier Station and Flying Saucer are already out, so I don't have a lot of hope, but I will be calling around. The weekend holds the prospect of more house cleaning/packing, plus the Cards sweeping the Red Sox at home to take the World Series and the Chiefs with a shot at 8-0 (and boy, do I wish I'd been able to put some cash on that happening before the season started). And my fantasy team, the Lustful Cockmonsters (h/t Chris Kluwe) are looking for a sixth straight win, after going down hard the first two games (see what I did there?).

Ro and I were all ready to welcome in the feetsball season last night. Chefs in HD on the flat screen and a big ol' plate of Tequila Line wings seasoned with Dr. Paisley's Reasonably Hot Chili Powder™. Unfortunately, when I turned on the oven, it was not heating up like it usually did. While I could see some kind of glow beneath the floor of the oven, the upper burner was not on at all, though it did belch some gas out. I switched to broil, and even with external flame carefully applied, no ignition.

In the hope it was just a minor problem, I ran the cleaning cycle, and we nuked the wings, which were good (more then I can say for the Chefs).

This morning I checked the oven again, and while the broiler works, the bake function does not. Teh Goggles sez it's probably the igniter, which might possibly be available for a no-longer-produced Jenn-Air range, but even if we could get the part, there's that whole figuring out how to make it work thing.

So we are off to Nebraska Furniture Mart to look at ranges. Fun fun.

I have been remiss in my posting, and there have been so many interesting things to talk about, like driving in the Stephen King-quality fog up to Lawrence last weekend (the road was fine, but there was nothing but white right up to the edges of the highway), watching KU finally wake up and beat Nebraska with NPulsifer (got to taste Magic Hat #9; the description of it as a "Not Quite Pale Ale" is very much correct) and other adventures. But the biggest story, of course, was getting Dragonet her new laptop Tuesday. She is so happy. It's a good thing.

But while I was at Nebraska Furniture Mart picking it up, I got myself a 1T LaCie external hard drive. It was the only one that specifically said on the box that the backup included had a Mac version. Got it set up, partitioned and the initial backup done that night. Wednesday evening, before I went to NPulsifer and Gisele's place to watch KU play Baylor, I began the process of transferring the 105G of tunes on my machine to their new home on the 681G partition. That process continued until this afternoon, almost 48 hours. Obviously, I need to get a USB 2.0 card for my machine. This looks like it will do the job, just need to scrape the shekels together.

The weekend promises a distinct lack of required activities, which is a nice change of pace. Sunday will be spent watching the conference championship games. I am definitely rooting for Nawlins to finally put a stake through Brett Favre's heart (re: last week's NO/AZ playoff game, once again Kurt Warner comes to the Big Easy looking for football glory, only to have his BFF Jesus desert him come game time to spend the day in the French Quarter turning water into Hurricanes*). It's the other game I am conflicted about. I would have no problem sending Peyton and the Colts home, but I really don't want to encourage the spawn of noted sociopath and former coach Buddy Ryan. But then, I remember that GRRM is a Jets fan, and his team making the Super Bowl would make him deliriously happy.


*Note to Smofbabe: the drink, not the U.

Went to bed at 2a with nothing on the ground but ground, despite the forecast. At 10a, when I got up (after briefly waking up at 5.35, looking at the clock with the usual "oh, crap, another 20 min and the alarm will go off" thought, then realizing it was Saturday and crashing again), there was a good 3-4" of snow on the ground, doing a fine job of hiding the paper from me. After shoveling the walk, driveway and sidewalk, I found it hiding under the cherry tree.

We got another inch or two over the course of the day, nice wet stuff that shoveled easily and proved no impediment to driving while we did a grocery run (1). Had to do it today, as I didn't have some of the ingredients needed to make a big pot of chili con carne (no beans, no games, just beef and pork and onion and garlic and stock and wine and chili powder [mine own, of course]). Om nomming a big bowl of it right now.

Shortly I will do my Hugo voting, all the while gloating over the Chiefs acquisition of Matt Cassel and Mike Vrabel for a 2nd round draft pick. And the fact that i watched some baseball on the MLB channel this afternoon.

Sometimes, life is reasonable decent.


(1) Thanks to the Catholics, whose weird superstitions created an opportunity for the local grocers to have so many different kinds of fish on sale this weekend. Oh, and you've got something on your face. No, a little higher, let me get it . . .

Forgot to mention that my New Year began at 11.30a with the doorbell ringing. I pulled on clothes and stumbled downstairs to discover we had Witnesses at the door, and not Fair ones either. I have spoken with the two gentlemen before, and they were polite, so I was reasonably so as well, while making it clear I had planned on sleeping later than this, and their tactics were no way to convince anyone of the primacy of their Sky Fairy.

Lyle Wilson had suggested the night before that he wanted to have some ribs for the new year, so we wound up going to Jack Stack for dinner. I had the Jack's Choice, which included a beef rib, 4 baby backs and a pile of burnt ends. Woof, a lotta meat. But so good.

Friday I had to work, but got out at 2p. Saturday I got a haircut, first since the fiasco at the beauty school in February. Shorter than I was expecting, but looks ok. Rohanna's will probably be longer than mine by ConQuesT, if not earlier.

Football playoffs went mostly how I expected (one Manning down, one to go!), though I was surprised that Arizona won. Doubt they will get any further, though. My preference at this point for winning it all is Tennessee, followed by Carolina. Baltimore would be ok, now that Billick is gone. We shall see.

But now it's back to the full five day week, until ConQuesT most likely. Suckity suck suck.

Friday morning we went to my dentist to pick up my backup upper (and Ro got to see Trevor, whom she has known since he was a fighter boy in the SCA many years ago). We then decamped to Masala's, which is a new Indian (dot, not feather) restaurant located at 91st & Metcalf, by Whole Paycheck. The lunch buffet was very good, with solid tandoori chicken and an amazingly good goat vindaloo. We'll probably be calling a fanivores there in the new year.

From there, we went across the street to Metcalf Discount Liquors, then around the corner to Microcenter. I confirmed there is an ADB to DVI converter available for my machine, but it's $50. Got to show Roh some of the fun things on one of the Macs they had there,and confirmed for her that her next computer will be one. From there, off to Half-Price Books, so the ladies could spend their gift cards.

After a bit of a rest, I headed off to Jardine's to meet NPulsifer and Gisele to see our friend Monique Danielle perform with Tim Whitmer's KC Express. Got there to discover the place was nearly full, and there was one table not reserved for the first show. Got to chat with Monique for a bit, which was nice. NPulsifer took me home after the show, and then picked me up so we could see BCR, which is Monique's other band, at another venue.

We got there shortly before the show began, and had the opportunity to talk to several of the band members, who we have gotten to know over 10 or so years of seeing them, including Mark, who is Monique's husband. They put on a great show, as always, and while the audience was maybe a dozen at the start, it grew to around 50 fairly quickly. Roh, who had been visiting her family in Lee's Summit, joined us part-way through, and had a great time, including confusing several people there who hadn't seen her since before the whole cancer thing. At the end of the evening, Monique took NPulsifer and I to her car, and gave us copies of her new cd as Xmas presents, which was very sweet of her. When we headed for home, it was still 60˚+ outside. By morning, it was in the 30s, with ice in the eastern quadrant. There was massive wind overnight, to the point of knocking down fences and powerlines, though we took no damage, fortunately.

The big activity for Saturday was the graykin memorial Dim Sum Orgy at Bo Ling's. Nineteen people showed up, including kalimeg, sf_reader, athenaartemis (celebrating her birthday the day before) and many others. Good food, good times. Afterwards Roh, Dragonet and I went back to Graykin's mother's house, where we sampled Graeter's ice cream, from Cincinnatti. The Raspberry Chunk was to die for. Afterward, I ran down to the Lukas Liquor on State Line and picked up some fine beers, including my stock for New Year's Eve. Then back home to hunker down as the weather went further to crap and the snow came down. I was switching channels and found VH1 showing "Prairie Wind," the Neil Young concert film from 2006, and Roh and I enjoyed that until it was over, at 12.30a.

Woke up at 11a, and watched the Chefs finish off the season with a demonstration of their status as a perfectly cromulent pro team (any sport). The odds on the coaching staff surviving the transition to a new GM went down severely. Then we went out to the salvage store near Roh's workplace, and did some grocery shopping. Came home to watch the end of the Eagles's rout of the Cowboys. Good times. Dinner was ham, crackers and various cheeses, with the Stilton with cranberries as dessert. Om nom.

Alas, back to work tomorrow, though it will be a slightly short week (we will be working the 2nd).

Below is the link to the continuing (un)coverage of the Bruise. I''m still not in pain as such, but it has been getting stiffer overnight with each passing day (not a euphemism). Unless things change drastically, I probably won't post more photos for a while. You're welcome.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19349120@N03/sets/72157611573610652/

At last, the caucuses are done, and Iowa will no longer be both freezing cold and full of hot air, at least for the next four years. Obama's solid win is impressive, though it would be more so if he hadn't done it by spending the last month sounding like a refugee from the GOP side (new Democratic slogan: "Social Security–It Works, Bitches!). Personally, I am leaning more towards Edwards, and am thus encourage by his second-place finish.

As for the party of permanent 9/11, they have now truly reaped the whirlwind they sowed many years ago. Mike Huckabee is their worst nightmare come true, an actual religious loon, as opposed to the fake ones they've used to pick up the fundamentalist vote in the past. And yeah, I consider anyone who chooses to deny everything known in the fields of physics, astronomy, biology, genetics and geology, to name but a few disciplines, to be a loon. The late rise of Teh Zombie Fred Thompson is also amusing, as he and the equally undead John McCain will battle for the brains of the party. Sadly, they shall find little sustenance.

It will be interesting to see what the next survey of an unrepresentative, insular group will turn up (you know, the New Hampshire primary).

And a hearty congratulations to the Jayhawks, who started strong and finished stronger to defeat Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl last night. Now, on to the NCAA Tournament! Rock Chalk!

1) Love Comes Running Up That Hill Quickly (Placebo vs. Pet Shop Boys vs. Kate Bush), DJ Magnet

2) I Palindrome I, TMBG

3) When I Was Your Girlfriend, The Chubbies

4) How Do You Do It, The Beatles

5) Let The Devil In, TV On The Radio

6) Sunny Skies, Hello, Blue Roses

7) Disconnect the Dots, Of Montreal

8) Token Love Song (Tetris Girl), The Fullerenes

9) Sgt. Pepper's Paradise (Beatles vs. Guns N' Roses), Jimmi Jammes

10) Someday, Neil Young

And because too much is not enough:

11) Robo-Spies Must Die!!, RIAA

12) Heartland, The The

13) Sweet Dreams are Made of Seven Nation Army, DJ Poly

Hmmm, four mash-ups this time. Boing Boing has a link to the "Best of Bootie" collection for this year, which includes my current fave, Funky Goes To Hollywood.

And now, the first weekend of the year. With the possibility of the temperature getting up to 60 by Sunday, the call of the grill is getting louder. We shall see.

The NFL has announced that Saturday night's New England Patriots / New York/Jersey Giants game, which was originally only going to appear on the NFL Network, will be simulcast on both NBC and CBS. The NFL blamed the fact that only about a third of the country would be able to see the game on recalcitrant cable companies that wouldn't allow the league to insert the NFL Network like a suppository in said companies's programming grids. Then Congress got involved, and now everyone will be able to get a live look at the colonoscopy (help, metaphor running wild! Film at 11! Ewwww! Hey, is that the remote there? And Jimmy Hoffa? Now for traffic: there's a four car polyp at the duodenum cutoff. . .)

Me, I'm cheering for the Pats to go 16-0, if only to shut up those self-righteous asses (there it is again!) in Miami (sorry Pooch). They'll have a new place to stick their champagne (and again!), no ifs, ands or butts (ok, that was stretching it). I'm done now, and as the Germans would say, Goatsedank.

The Day Jesus Invented Football, from Kissing Suzy Kolber.

Just a little holiday blasphemy for everyone.

""Behold, my brothers," Jesus did say. "I give you football."

He held a lot the oddly shaped object fashioned of cowhide leather but referred to as a pigskin. The Apostles wept as they regarded it. Tom Landry didn't take off his hat, though, because he was a disrespectful asswipe."

Off to Lawrence in a bit to see my mom and her husband. Tomorrow back up there to Dragonet's mom's and the horde.

Happy holidays of all sorts, and may most of you get what you wish for, and the rest get what you deserve (sometimes it's all the same).

First and foremost, teh history of LOLCats (via Pandagon).

And, of course, the tunes:

1) After The Gold Rush, Neil Young

2) Another Town, Steve Earle

3) Shining, A Beautiful Machine

4) Hovering Sombrero, TMBG

5) Rise, American Music Club

6) Eurotrash Girl, Cracker/Leftover Salmon*

7) 0415 Oops Speak Louder Than Words.mp3, The Kleptones

8) Canned Music, Dan Hicks And His Hot Licks

9) Thermostat, TMBG

10) The West County, Béla Fleck & The Flecktones

and for dessert . . .

11) Walking On a Wire, Richard & Linda Thompson

12) You're Untied Again, Okkervil River

13) Psycho Killer, Talking Heads (Stop Making Sense)


And here's the quote of the week, possibly year, from a thread on Unfogged discussing the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and other kid detective books:

"I liked that TV series about the serial killer who's always having vivid paranoid hallucinations. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I think it was called." --dsquared


And now, a day of housecleaning in prep for the appearance of Doubt72 tomorrow, as well as Armageddon at Arrowhead! Rock Chalk, Jayhawk! No prisoners, eat the wounded!

*O Cracker, Where Art Thou is a wonderfully bizarre collaboration between David Lowry and jam-band Leftover Salmon, transforming Cracker's already off-kilter '80s alterna-rock into twisted bluegrass nuggets of musical joy. Especially awesome is their version of "Low," featuring the creepiest banjo line ever heard. Worth checking out.