This week’s kind of been a blur. I was sick last weekend, and still kind of am, only I’m taking a seriously high dose of prescribed of antibiotics to wipe out whateve infection has lodged itself in my skull and respiratory system for the last month or so. It’s like “scour the cities and salt the earth” strong, and it’s making me a little fuzzy as I work through the course, but in the end, I think it’s going to be worth it.

I’m kind of on my last nerve, not the least of which because while work has been getting done at the office, my building has been populated by lots of people all week (this is the kind of thing I do because it justifies my having it – when my team’s not here, I can lend it out to other folks for working sessions and training), mostly nice people (except for one asshole who I hate dealing with), but it’s been louder than normal, and it broke my routine.

I’ve been short-tempered when I haven’t been dead tired. It’s not been great. Apologies to any and all that have to deal with me.,/p>

Oh, and I have to be a good host and an entertaining and engaging game master this weekend, as my annual charity auction Dinner and Dungeons and Dragons event happens tomorrow. I normally really look forward to this, as we always have a lot of fun, but I honestly hope I’m up for it, and I give my guests their money’s worth of entertainment and comestibles (including the traditional bacon explosion). The game’s solid – we playtested it last weekend, and it’s a good balance of fun, silly, and challenging. I just hope I can bring the fun.

The rest of the weekend up until around 3pm tomorrow, though, is going to be a whirlwind of getting my house clean and getting the food made.

Oh, South Carolina Democrats vote tomorrow. I’ve been predicting things. Here’s my call for SC: Clinton’s going to do well, beating Sanders by around 15% percent; he’s been balancing expectations, though I think he’ll do a little better than conventional wisdom. Not *much* better, but he’s gonna beat the spread.

Super Tuesday next week’s going to really tell the tale – I’m not sure how it’s going to go (I’m not even sure which states are on the list), though I k now I’ll be voting, and making sure all my friends and neighbors do here in Virginia, which I think is going to look good for Sanders (his big event in Norfolk this week had more headlines than Bill Clinton coming to Richmond…that says something).

no music this week. I’m just enjoying the quiet right now.

Okay, so I screwed up and missed the South Carolina Republican primary on Saturday. my reading of the schedule was wrong, I had a gig on Saturday (which was *AWESOME*), and I’ve got this bronchial thing that won’t go away that I’m fighting and trying to get a doctor to look at, but apparently everybody else has it too, so it’s tough getting in to get looked at). I won’t count it as a winning prediction, but I would’ve picked Trump there anyway; sadly, the redneck racist vote holds a lot of sway there, based on the polls I’ve seen (not that I don’t know some really great non racist people in SC).

So, today the Republicans caucus in Nevada. I’m giving it to Trump again. Cruz comes distant second. Just a guess.

We’ll talk Democrats in SC later this week.

Not a bad week, all told. Work’s been, to my great relief, quiet, with no major crises looming or fires to put out. Made my boss happy a couple of times, rebuilt a few connections that might pay dividends later, and maybe cracked a bit of an issue that’s been nagging for a few months. I guess one can’t ask for more than that.

Outside of work, the big news is the car. With the regular commute and a couple of errands, I’ve got a little over 200 miles on the odometer (it was around 70 thanks to the dealership transfer when i took delivery). So far, I’m very happy, and I’ll be even happier once I get a little more used to the quirks of this particular transmission (I’m still a little shaky with the clutch engage point for first gear; if I don’t think about it, I’m fine, but the key is to not think about it). Still, very happy. Got my fancy embroidered floor mats yesterday (dealer didn’t have extra, and this one was off of another lot), the rear cargo mat should be in today or tomorrow.

Also, I have a gig this weekend! We’re playing with a bunch of other wizard rock types up in Northern Virginia for an all-day “Festival of Nerdy Love Songs”, which should be a lot of fun. Just the kind of thing I need. Plus…road trip!

Oh, and there’s a caucus this weekend – The Democrats do their thing in Saturday in Nevada (the Republicans do theirs on Tuesday). I’ll save my Tuesday predictions for then, though for this weekend, I’m going to predict a VERY narrow victory for Clinton (but again, not nearly as much as she’d want or need to dominate) – less than 10 percent, probably closer to five.

I want to be wrong, of course, and I could be. A lot depends on turnout, particularly of the youth vote, which could turn things toward Sanders, though that’s a big “if”, especially if there’s any confusion on the odd day for the Caucus. Let’s hope the BernieBros aren’t too busy making memes to come out and play nice (and not be too creepy). The big political monster in Nevada, the Culinary Workers Union (representing the many casino, hotel, and restaurant employees in tourism-heavy Nevada) has sit this one out in terms of endorsements, though there was some friction earlier this year with the Sanders campaign. I’m not sure what the influence, if any, is going to be.

So…have a good weekend, everybody!

When I had my beloved Pontiac Vibe totalled out from under me a few years back, what I really wanted was to simply grab the more modern replacement, because I loved the thing so damned much. Unfortunately, at the time, both the Vibe, and it’s sibling the Toyota Matrix, had been discontinued. I needed a small economical car, and prefer hatchbacks immensely (bikes and bass rig fit better), so I settled for the Toyota Yaris, which was very nice, but a bundle of compromises (a little small, four speed automatic transmission, etc), which I made due with. It’s still a pretty nice looking car, though, as this photo I took yesterday (apologies for the road dirt; it snowed here on Monday) clearly shows:

Since last summer, when I saw that Toyota (under the soon-to-be-departed Scion marque) was releasing what’s essentially the next generation Vibe/Matrix (actually, it’s the European model, the Auris, with a body kit) as the Scion iM, my resolve to make due with this perfectly serviceable little car started to crumble. I’d drooled a bit over models while I was over at the dealership getting the Yaris serviced; it was exactly like the car I had from 2006 to 2013, only with a few more modern conveniences, some more aggressive styling cues, and an available 6-speed manual transmission.

So, on Saturday, killing time on that side of town between dropping the youngest off at a birthday party and picking her up and taking her to dance class, I stopped by the dealership to look yet again and kill 20 minutes, and got talking with Anthony, the dealership’s Scion guy, and had a seed planted.

A few phone calls on my part and his later, I’m signing papers on Monday afternoon to buy a fancy black one (the only manual available in the metro area, sitting at another dealership), getting really nice deal, a zero percent interest rate, and a good trade in-price on my Yaris, that paid off the remaining loan balance and then some.

I picked it up after work yesterday. It’s pretty:

It felt weird, trading up to a new car after only three years, when I tend to keep cars a really long time (like until the wheels fall off or somebody totals the thing out from under me), but as nice as the Yaris was (and it was nice – you can buy it if you want – it’ll probably be sold by the end of the week), it wasn’t quite meeting my needs. I think I’m going to be okay with something a little closer to what I wanted in the first place that’s more fun and engaging to drive (read: four speed automatics are boring). I’ll get over my genetically encoded blue-collar instinct and enjoy the new ride.

I’ve had enough crap come down the pike in my life the last couple of months…I think I can deal with treating myself a little. People have done way worse in dealing with those mid-life crisis feelings.

If you’ve been keeping pace with me at all lately, you know that this has been a hell of a week.

the tl;dr version? Doubt. Uncertainty. Signs of problematic developments in the future. Headaches. Lack of sleep. Hopelessness. Depression.

As I mentioned earlier this week, there have been some awesome folks out there who have, upon seeing the state of me, been nothing but amazing and encouraging. I can’t thank those folks enough.

But now, It’s Friday. Heading into a long weekend. Valentine’s Day weekend (and I think I did pretty well in the gift-giving department). Deadpool weekend.

Thanks to a couple of really long and late meetings these past two weeks, I’ve got a couple of free hours on the books, so I’m leaving the office early, and taking my lovely wife out on an old-fashioned dinner-and-a-movie date. The fact that she wants to do a Deadpool-and-Chimichangas evening really kind of illustrates why we work so well together.

Anyway, thanks everybody who was patient and supportive this week, and a hearty (but polite) “bite me” to the other folks out there who made me need the patience and support in the first place. You know who you are.

Oh yeah….music.

1. “Heaven When We’re Home” – The Wailin’ Jennys
2. “Fightin’ on the Same Side” – The Hooters
3. “Dirt Bike” – They Might Be Giants
4. “The Lucky One (live)” – Alison Krauss and Union Station
5. “Thank U” – Alanis Morrissette
6. “Silly Little Man” – The Badlees
7. “The Plains of Memory” – Borknagar
8. “Rondo of Nightmare” – BABYMETAL
9. “Skip Under Lide” – Lumsk
10. “The One I Love (live)” – R.E.M.
11. “Don’t You (Forget About Me) -Simple Minds

It’s been a rough kind of week. Upheaveal, and Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt are currently in power in my organization, I can’t seem to get any of my concerns or questions answered, and none of the timelines I’m able to project from here into the new order seem to work out nicely for me. The best material thing that happened during the workday yesterday was that the cleaning staff changed out the urinal cakes in the men’s restroom, giving the whole place a nice fresh floral scent.

It kind of came to a head yesterday morning, so I took to the keyboard and threw the following plea out to social media:

feeling all kinds of discouraged today, people. Could use some good thoughts and some cheering up, if you’re of the mind.

thanks…

It felt really weird and needy to put such a thing up, but you know? It worked. My friends came through, and continue to do so. I got posts, emails, phone calls, all with the express purpose of checking in or making me feel better. Also, met my friend Chris, who I hadn’t seen in a while, for coffee after work and had a nice chat (and also got my hands on the first sold copy of the latest print collection of his comic, A Dog’s Life, “Who Let The Dogs Out?”), which was great. All of these things made me feel loved, appreciated, cared for, and understood.

I just wanted you all to know how much I appreciate you all. Seriously. I know some great people. You’re all awesome.

Okay, my head may have gotten a little swollen after nailing the Iowa prediction last week, so I’m going to go out on a limb again, and try and predict today’s New Hampshire Primary results. My predictions are not the least bit scientific – I take a look at the polls, the general sense of the media coming out of the campaigns, and what little I know traditionally about the electorate and how these things go, and take a wild-ass guess, which, really, is what most of the talking heads do anyway, so I’m in good company.

On the Democratic side, I’m going to call it for Sanders, by probably 15 percent, if not more; this is his home turf, and his independent streak works to his advantage in “Live Free or Die” territory. Also, I think some of the remarks this week from Clinton surrogates (including former Presidents, Secretaries of State, and Gloria Steinham) landed badly up there, and won’t do Clinton any favors.

On the Republican side, I’m going to give it to Trump, though not by as much as he’d like; maybe five percent ahead of second, which is probably going to be Rubio (despite his poor debate performance and inability to provide pancakes). The story, though, is going to be the strong showing by John Kasich, who’s been having a pretty good week under the radar. He’s going to hit third, or even second if I’m wrong about Rubio.

The photo above pretty much represents my ability to speak right now. Not sure where it came from, but I’ve got *another* bug running through my system. I did spend a while in the company of little girls at the dance school this weekend; maybe I picked something up there. I feel mostly okay, though I’ve got no voice whatsoever, save a hoarse, creaking croak that served me very well when I had to brief the CIO Wednesday afternoon, and the several times I’ve had to argue with other branches of the organization of what constitutes a successful electronic commerce test (my definition does not include every transaction dropping for manual review, while it seems theirs does…argh).

I took a day off this week, but it barely helped, though I got some rest. Luckily, I’ve got relatively few meetings the rest of the week, and my underlings have the job well in hand, so I can hide in my office and talk to people through email and save my voice.

My throat and it’s capacity for speech have been a primary focus of my week, though a couple of other things went down – My wife had a birthday on Wednesday; I think she enjoyed it. Also, it seems my totally unscientific predictions for Iowa were right on the money; it’s unlikely I’ll be able to turn this into a career in political commentary, but it kind of felt good to get it right. If I make a prediction for next week in New Hampshire, I’ll probably bobble that royally. We’ll see how I feel on Monday.

So, today is the day…the first official votes in this Presidential election cycle actually get cast this evening; the rubber, as they say, finally meets the road.

Predictions? I’m not sure, really, but here’s my general take:

For the Democrats, I’m hoping for a good showing for Bernie Sanders (if we’re being honest, he’s the one who most closely aligns with me philosophically), though I have nothing in particular against Hillary Clinton…I suppose she’d do an okay job, but I just can’t get excited about her, and the idea of dynastic politics makes me uncomfortable (as do Third Way/DLC politics in general). I think it’s kind of a toss-up, really – Clinton’s learned some things since 2008, and has a pretty great ground game, which really makes a difference, but then, so does Sanders. Total toss up.

The Republicans have the bigger show, I guess…My feeling is that Trump and Cruz will come really close; both are stoking the anger and frustration of the far-right, though in the end, I think Cruz (as odious as he is) is gonna come out on top by one or two percent. I suspect, in the end, that there’s some evangelical discomfort with Trump that’s not completely been captured, and while Trump has kind of been annointed (see the Falwell endorsement), Cruz has better bona fides with the religious right, and that’s going to tip things.

Either way, the Republican field is going to get slashed a bit going forward – a few may hang out through Super Tuesday, though I expect folks like Gilmore, Kasich, and Santorum will probably drop in the next week.

My reasonable Republican friends are hoping for Rubio to do well, and I suspect he’ll probably do well, but he comes across as human and mostly rational, and I just don’t think that’s going to be a real advantage this time around.

In any case, I’ll be watching. For some good interesting perspectives (and a good discussion with an actual Iowa voter of how the Caucus works) on the entire process, check out The More Perfect Union podcast (which is made by a few friends of mine). It’s enlightening.

and now, for your reading pleasure, some good old-fashioned vagueblogging:

I truly and honestly know that I should not take pleasure at the misfortune (or in this case, missed opportunities) of others. I try not to do it. I’m not proud of the fact that I occasionally do.

However, in this particular case about which I won’t elaborate further, it couldn’t have happened to a nice guy.

As I said, I’m not proud.