You could say it was an eventful week for the nation. As I write this, Iowa has finally all but gotten it’s results from Monday’s caucuses out, and honestly, I was kind of surprised to see Mayor Pete come out on top, though the top three (Pete, along with Bernie and Liz) appear pretty close, so the end result will be neck-and-neck-and-neck in terms of delegate tally. The “big” story was Biden tanking, though for folks paying attention to the story on the ground, it wasn’t as much a surprise as it’s being portrayed. The typical rhythm of the campaign heading into New Hampshire next week has been thrown off, however, so no one’s really sure how this is going to play out, which should make it interesting.

Tuesday was the State of the Union, which was kind of a weird, made-for-tv farce campaign rally rather than a constituationally mandated report, and the President was denied the typical pomp-and-circumstance boost by Nancy Pelosi stealing the spotlight by ripping up her copy of the speech after he finished.

Wednesday was the wrap-up of the Impeachment business. the outcome was pre-ordained, given the make-up of the Senate and the partisan bootlicking that’s typical of Washington today, not to say that the result was the right one by any means, but it’s over now. Again, however, the President was denied his total bipartisan victory thanks to Sentator Romney, who bucked the party and the White House’s “heads on pikes” threats and voted to convict on one of the Articles, which I’m sure will rankle the current occupant something fierce.

Oh yeah, Sunday night there was a sportsball game or something*. Apparently people were scandalized by a kinda sexy, empowering and political floor show.

For me, I spent a lot of the week at the office begging for money because the budget people can’t read contracts properly, and a good bit of time in the saddle of my bike riding along the trail, since the first part of the week was so gorgeous. It felt good, though my old man muscles aren’t necessarily thanking me just yet.

I also had a pretty good first week of February Album Writing Month, knocking out seven tunes in the first six days (at least as I write this), which puts me ahead of the game, and one short of halfway to the goal. And at least half of those are pretty good. It’s a good exercise in creativity, in any case, and I’m feeling pretty good about my output.

I am not going to speculate on the weekend, because honestly I don’t know. So there.

Anyway…tunes. Spotify’s “Discover Weekly,” as usual, throws me some neat alternative from the 80s and 90s, most of which I missed the first time around, but have really come around to digging.

1. “Battle of Who Could Care Less” – Ben Folds Five
2. “White Punks on Dope” – The Tubes
3. “4th of July” – X
4. “Dylan Thomas” – Better Oblivion Community Center
5. “Drivin’ on 9” – The Breeders
6. “Happy Hour” – Ted Hawkins
7. “Oblivious” – Aztec Camera
8. “Go Where You Wanna Go” – Echo In the Canyon Jade Castrinos, Jakob Dylan
9. “Salt Lake City” – Dwarves
10. “Escape Is At Hand For The Travellin’ Man” – The Tragically Hip
11. “This Time It’s Different” – Heart Bones
12. “Obscurity Knocks” – Trashcan Sinatras
13. “It’s A Hit” – Rilo Kiley

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* – I don’t mean to denigrate the Superb Owl in any particular way; in theory, I’m still a fan of football: the sport. The National Football League, however, with it’s overblown “‘Murica! by way of Michael Bay” garbage the last decade that totally misses the substance of the things that are truly admirable about this imperfect experiment, I really can’t be bothered to watch. Let’s just say I’d take a knee, but y’all go ahead and enjoy.