friday random elevenish: “what happens if you throw a meeting and nobody shows?” edition
This week, apart from that thing I mentioned yesterday, has been pretty bog-standard. It’s been colder around here, so it’s been a little more hiking rather than biking, both because of the temperatures and a general malaise and sinus pressure that comes along with it. Work’s been more of the same, with the addition of a couple of process improvement workshops stretching out a couple of workdays. Plus, that thing in the title; happened twice this week.
Could’ve been emails anyway; I’m not sweating it.
I have, of course, been watching the various circuses in Washington and Kenosha; I’m afraid the latter’s got the potential to be really pretty ugly when the verdict finally comes in…I’m afraid either likely outcome (acquittal or mistrial) is going to lead to unrest and possibly violence, because tensions are already high, and anything other than guilty is going to just encourage more vigilantism, and more guns introduced into a situation has never, in the history of ever, ratcheted down a contentious situation.
As for the former? I don’t know. I wasn’t really expecting a House vote on BBB this week anyway (it’s possible they could suprise me today), though Rep. McCarthy’s eight hour, thirty-two minute floor speech delaying things was indeed impressive; I don’t agree with the guy, but I’ve got to respect the old-school “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington” vibes. It’s a shame one of the local Reps from my metropolitan area (Abby Spanberger* from VA-07 on the north side of town) gave him some ammunition with her FDR comments that got raised again last night in McCarthy’s marathon.
…And for the record? I think she’s mostly wrong. I didn’t expect another New Deal out of this administration, necessarily, but given the once-a-century circumstances, if the patterns of history hold, we’re due for some big reforms; it might not be the Biden administration that gets the credit, but one can’t deny that BIF and BBB introduce some significant progress, and the national discourse is seriously talking about things (UBI, college debt forgiveness, single-payer healthcare) that never would have been mentioned even 15 years ago. It feels like better things are coming, and the current administration is laying the foundation. That’s sometimes the only thing that gives me hope amongst all the current chaos and conflict.
I wasn’t really expecting to go that deep into politics this morning, but honestly? Those last couple of sentences express a lot of what’s been rattling around in the back of my brain the last few months. What can I say? I was a history major; the long view is my thing.
To get back to banality? Not a lot on the agenda for the weekend. Hardywood’s letting some barrel aged Caliente GBS trickle out this weekend, and I still haven’t gotten my hands on this year’s (Kentucky) Christmas Morning yet, so there might be an expedition to the brewery. Also? Netflix has the live-action Cowboy Bebop out, and Amazon’s got Wheel of Time hitting today, so there’s several hours worth of genre tv I wouldn’t mind consuming along with some creamy fermented holiday goodness…
As for tunes? Lots of old school, prog, and prog-adjacent this week, which isn’t surprising given my recent Zappa binges:
- “The Court of the Crimson King” – The Claypool Lennon Delirium
- “(I Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman” – The Kinks
- “Super Stupid” – Funkadelic
- “The Seeker” – The Who
- “Helter Skelter” – The Beatles
- “Outoon valoon” – Juice Leskinen Slam
- “TNK(Tomorrow Never Knows)” – Phil Manzanera
- “Palestine Texas” – T Bone Burnett
- “Keep Pushin'” – REO Speedwagon
- “Nantucket Sleighride” – Leslie West, Mountain
- “El Dorado” – James Wilsey
- “Anus of Uranus” – Klaatu
- “Cheap Sunglasses” – The Sword
- “Red Barchetta” – Rush
- “Highway to Hell” – Tom Morello, Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder
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*- I struggle to call her anything but Abby, as we’ve got some friends in common and that’s how they refer to her, and I’m pretty sure we’ve been introduced at a couple of social functions over the years. She’s still more moderate than I’d like, though again, she’s not officially my rep (who’s more than satisfactory, if less prominent in the media), and according to those folks mentioned above, she is a pleasant and genuinely decent human being.
