Most of my week’s been way too deeply invested in developing a couple of sales pitch decks for the C-suite pushing a new organizational scheme for requirements in the program management center…Well, I say “new”, when I really mean “a”, because currently, there really isn’t any rhyme or reason to things.

My boss and our small team (thankfully it is a team now, rather than just the two of us) are, perhaps quixotically, trying to bring some order and sense to an organization pretty much defined by inertia. We’ll see – this may be the next decade of my career and what’ll see me to retirement…who knows.

They keep paying me, so I keep plugging away. I’m just sick of thinking in slides, bulleted lists, and drop-shadow boxes highlighting important points carefully constructed to *not* resemble anything cribbed from an MBA textbook.

Between that and trying to wrap up the insurance settlement and getting the new kids’ car street legal (thankfully done now, and not too expensively), I haven’t had much room for anything else, apart from daily bike rides dialed in to try and get my endurance back after my suspected brush with a viral variant, and watching the delightful premiere episode of Ms. Marvel on Wednesday evening.

No idea what’s on the agenda for this weekend; there are a host of cool things happening in the city tomorrow, but honestly? I’m not sure I want to deal with crowds.

In any case, it’s Friday morning, so here are some tunes – some pleasant hard rock/hair metal throwbacks, along with something from the VH legacy project at #6, which honestly has a pretty good pop sensibility to it:

1. “The Real Me” – W.A.S.P.
2. “Jack the Stripper/Fairies Wear Boots” – Black Sabbath
3. “I’m On Fire” – Dwight Twilley Band
4. “Cleveland Rocks” – Ian Hunter
5. “Edison’s Medicine” – Tesla
6. “Mr. Ed” – Mammoth WVH
7. “Free Four” – Pink Floyd
8. “Elenore” – Flo & Eddie
9. “Deeper and Deeper” – The Fixx
10. “High ‘N’ Dry (Saturday Night” – Def Leppard
11. “Midnight Moses” – The Senational Alex Harvey Band
12. “Opite²” – TOOL
13. “Girl U Want” – Soundgarden

If one were given to wallow in cliche, absence, they say, makes the heart grow fonder. Honestly, though, based on the stats, mostly don’t think anybody much cares.

Apart from a couple of playlist posts the last couple of weeks, I’ve been largely absent from this space. And if I’m absent, pretty much everybody’s absent; I’m aware I keep this thing going primarily as an enhancement for my own memory; visitors from out in the rest of the world, and people who might want to buy my music are really just bonuses.

In that spirit, here’s quick run-down of the things that I’ve been dealing instead of brain-dumping here the last couple of weeks:

Thing The First: I’m pretty sure I actually did have COVID there in the beginning of May; I never tested positive, and apart from feeling a little run down with what I thought were allergies, I was never really totally out of the game. What makes me think this is the fact that I seem to have lost a step when it comes to endurance, particularly on the bike. I may indeed have ridden sixty miles while in the throws of the ‘rona, but since then, hitting my usual stock twenty-miles-after-work ride has been really difficult, particularly in terms of breathing; more so than if I’d just taken off for a week or so. It’s frustrating. To build back, I’m scaling back my goals a bit; starting from scratch and rebuilding. Spending the next week or so ensuring I can do 10-12 miles at a shot without killing myself, and building back up from there. We’ll see how it goes.

Thing the Second: Work, one could say, is kicking my ass. I’ve been very busy shepherding way too many projects – actual spend plan projects as well as ambitious “reorganize the agency as we know it” efforts that, if successful, will be amazing, but I know better than to get too optimistic about, because people. It’s been eating a lot of my time, and has been exhausting. AND…I’ve actually got to show up in person in the office tomorrow to glad-hand contractors for a bit…joy.

Thing the Third: A kid totaled the van the other weekend, so I’ve been neck deep in car insurance wrangling for the last couple of weeks, which has eaten up most of the rest of my active brain cycles. It’s been a constant game of exchanging paperwork, checking statuses, and shopping for a replacement. After a bunch of false starts (including one vehicle we were interested in getting into a wreck on the way to meet up with us to ideally exchange money for wheels), we ended up with a cheap but decent Toyota/Scion that should, with care, last at least another 100k miles. That, of course, adds registration, more insurance, and mechanical inspections to get this thing legal for the road. The light, as they say, is starting to show at the end of the tunnel, $diety willing.

Both young drivers have had their first wrecks now with no injuries, so that’s at least out of the way.

Apart from that? Well, there hasn’t been time for much of anything else, especially since we’re in the midst of dance recital season, on both teaching and studenting fronts. Add to that all the usual life crap, and all I want to do is collapse.

Here’s to hoping it gets better.

The excessive life has slowed down somewhat, but I’ve still got way too many balls in the air, so to speak, and seriously don’t have the energy or free brain cycles to go on about it here. Once things settle a bit more? We’ll likely be back to our regularly scheduled web-hosted bitching.

Suffice it to say, I’ve had too many meetings, too many expenses, too much correspondence, and not enough relief these last couple of weeks.

Anyway, some tunes spotify thought I’d like:

1. “Dickie Betts” – Dean Ween Group
2. “For Mia” – Owen Beverly
3. “Computer Games” – George Clinton
4. “The Rover” – Led Zeppelin
5. “Better Things” – The Kinks
6. “Holy Man – Taylor Hawkins version” – Dennis Wilson
7. “Cinnamon Girl” – Type O Negative
8. “Kaisarion” – Ghost
9. “Heavy Metal – Take A Ride” – Don Felder
10. “Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now)” – Cracker
11. “Ride a White Swan” – T. Rex
12. “Chewbacca” – Supernova Chile
13. “Fire” – Arthur Brown

Still too much life; memos, insurance, horrific news (and our unfortunate numbness to it as a nation), insomnia, graduations and transitions, bizarre requests, and a whole bunch of rain.

I’m exhausted. I fell asleep before 7pm last night watching the new Chip n’ Dale’s Rescue Rangers movies on the couch.

Yeah.

Here’s a list of songs:

1. “Dedicated” – The Amps
2. “Money” – The Flying Lizards
3. “Roadrunner” – The Modern Lovers
4. “Girl U Want” – DEVO
5. “Tarot” – Ataraxia
6. “Witchcraft” – Book of Love
7. “The Death of Pop” – The Rub
8. “Hanging on the Telephone” – The Nerves
9. “Behind the Mask” – Greg Phillinganes
10. “I’d Like to See The Bad Guys Win” – Margo Guryan
11. “Spreading the Disease” – Queensrÿche
12. “You’re My Favorite Waste of Time” – Marshall Crenshaw & The Handsome, Ruthless and Stupid Band
13. “Blue Red and Grey” – The Who
14. “Johnny, Are You Queer?” – Josie Cotton
15. “Moldavite” – Reggie Pearl

Too much life this week, friends. I’ve got nothin’.

Here’s some music:

1. “Madonna of the Wasps” – Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians
2. “Try Me On…I’m Very You” – Deee-Lite
3. “Head Over Heels (Dave Bascombe 7″ N.Mix)” – Tears for Fears
4. “The New World” – X
5. “The Hook” – Stephen Malkmus
6. “Turtles Have Short Legs” – CAN
7. “Lips Like Sugar” – Echo & The Bunnymen
8. “Peanuts Grow Underground” – Pixx
9. “Chick Habit” – Izzy Bardot
10. “Sleep” – This Heat
11. “Apple” – Cibo Matto
12. “DemiRep” – Bikini Kill
13. “She’s My Baby” – Mazzy Star
14. “The Book Lovers” – Broadcast
15. “Leda” – Makthaverskan
16. “Harborcoat” – R.E.M.

As I’m still fighting off this respiratory thing, I spent the weekend largely down, trying to rest and medicate this thing away. The weather cooperated with me by being largely garbage all weekend, so I wasn’t particularly tempted to push myself with outdoor exercise. I watched a couple of movies, played some Pokemon, read some books, and made a decent slow cooker full of vegan chili.

Looking to the week ahead, I’m hoping the current uneventful nature continues in my personal journey. Work looks quiet, and more rainy weather is going to keep me inside on my ass at least one more day, which is, honestly, exactly what I need.

Being primary season though, I’m keeping an eye on the outlook for the mid-term elections their effects on the second half of the current administration. So far, tradition seems to be holding, that the party in power will lose a few seats – I’m hoping the conventional wisdom is wrong, but we’ll see – we’ve got a little over six months for things to play out.

As neither of my senators is up for re-election this time around, and my congressional district is pretty solidly blue (this year, it’s the same lineup as 2020, when my congressman beat the challenger 62-38, which isn’t surprising, since the challenger’s website doesn’t even include an issues/positions section), there’s not much to follow around here.

Given the 50-50 balance in the Senate, however, I’m watching some of those other races pretty closely, particularly the senate race in the state of my birth. With Patt Toomey retiring, the race for that Pennsylvania seat has been the subject of lots of national attention. On the Republican side, you’ve got TV’s Memhet “Doctor” Oz holding the lead over a host of others on name recognition and TFG’s endorsement, but flailing on substance and credentials. For the Democrats, there are three candidates, but Lt. Governor John Fetterman has a solid lead, backed by statewide experience, solid progressive positions, and an informal, unconventional style that feels pretty solidly Pennsylvanian in presentation, only without the regressive social opinions and with a couple of advanced degrees. He’s like your rough-n-tumble Berks County uncle who knocks back a few lagers and starts debating the merits of Keynesian economics.

I like him enough that I’ve tossed him a few bucks this cycle, and was saddened to hear about his medical issues this weekend ahead of the primary, but it looks like he’s going to make a full recovery, and hopefully be ready to compete in the general after tomorrow’s primary election.

So, if you’re voting in that particular election tomorrow and looking for my recommendation, I say vote for Fetterman; he’ll be a solid asset to the party and the nation, and be interesting and entertaining to watch while doing it.

Another week gone, spent, primarily, pushing five requirements packages over the line to get briefed and funded at work, clearing the decks so I can maybe have some time to work on all the evil overlord/”remake the agency” projects the bosses and I are hatching to hopefully improve things around here.

That’s where my head’s been, primarily, and with all the continued sinus crap happening in there, there’s not room for much else. Some time hiking the local trails after work, some correspondence with event organizers about upcoming gigs, and working my way through a compelling but slow-reading novel in the evenings.

The coming weekend looks relatively uneventful, apart from another memorial service for a friend who passed. The world’s losing way too many good people this year, and I wish it would just stop doing that. Likewise, the weather look awful, so I expect the bike will stay stowed. Maybe I’ll break out the recording gear and process some musical ideas, or maybe I’ll just log some quality time on the couch playing video games?

Objectively, I’ve been plenty productive this week already, so I’m not feeling a whole lot of pressure to run up the scores for once. I’m just going to go where the wind takes me, I think.

As for tunes this week, lots of cool, forty year old deep cuts and recent indie tracks that ape the sound; nicely fuzzed-up guitars and analog production what’s honestly hitting a spot I didn’t know needed hitting. Also, closing things out is my favorite cover song from one of those bands I’ve stuck with for decades and always appreciate:

1. “Wicked Woman” – Coven
2. “Love Your Money” – Daisy Chainsaw
3. “Living In Hell” – Cobra Man
4. “Feed The Tree” – Belly
5. “Whole Wide World” – Wreckless Eric
6. “I’m Glad We Broke Up” – Du Blonde
7. “Cat House” – Danielle Dax
8. “Guided By Angels” – Amyl and The Sniffers
9. “Flying Saucer Safari” – Suburban Lawns
10. “Rock Star” – Hole
11. “Stayin’ Alive” – Tropical F*ck Storm
12. “Whata A Way To Die” – The Pleasure Seekers
13. “Third Uncle” – Bauhaus
14. “3 Strange Days” – School of Fish
15. “Hazy Shade of Winter” – The Bangles

Well, I didn’t quite finish off one hundred miles this weekend for the 2022 Cap2Cap.

As I mentioned, I’ve been struggling with a respiratory thing with cruddy lungs, sore throat, and fatigue. It’s not COVID (I checked), but it, and the weather, had been keeping me down most of the week.

I did, however, get up early on Saturday and haul my bike and my ass and my camelbak pack out to the trailhead in the cold-ish, misty weather, figuring I’d give it my best shot. About 25 miles in, I realized my body wasn’t going to do it, but since I signed up for the century, I was going to try to at least blow past the half-century, so I turned around at thirty miles.

So, I did sixty miles in a little under five hours (my pace was off because health, and because wet pavement), then changed into a dry shirt and drove to the park where my lunch was waiting. I ate and came home, took a shower, and downed a bunch of ibuprofen to make the aches go away.

So I didn’t get the century this year – might’ve bitten off more than I can chew given the circumstances.

That said, I’m an almost 48 year old man who can ride sixty miles on a bike on a rainy morning with a chest cold. There are tons of people who can’t do that.

Hell of a week this was. Couple of twelve hour work days, sprained wrist, and cold-like symptoms the last several days, which have played hell with my anxiety, as I’ve been having dreams the early part of this week that I’d caught the ‘rona at RavenCon and that would sideline my plans to participate in the Cap2Cap this weekend. So far, though, no temperature to speak of; just congestion and fatigue.

Oh, and that big political story that dropped Monday night; I’m not surprised by it, really – but it’s not good news at all. I have thoughts, and I might share them here later if I can get through all this other crap.

As it stands, I’m taking it really easy and trying to sleep this bug off and do my best to be well enough tomorrow morning to put the century behind me. I’m going to do my best, in any case – if I’m going to collapse doing 100 miles, this weekend is the time to do it, with the regular support stations and increased presence on the VCT. I’ll re-evaluate every 20 miles or so, and if it gets really bad, I’ll turn around.

I think I can do the century, however – I won’t be the fastest, but I’ll get it done and prove that I’m an old man in more than decent shape.

Also taking a long weekend, with Monday off; in part to recover, and in part because we’re going to to catch Doctor Strange 2 at the drive-in on Sunday night.

Oh, Ravencon was cool, if a bit exhausting. We saw friends, enjoyed some music, bought a couple of books, and I booked another gig (ConGregate down in NC in July), but we ended up bailing early on Saturday, and giving Sunday a miss because we were peopled out.

Here are some tunes – much of the front end of the list falling in around the bpm mentioned in the title, making it appropriate for both what I’m doing tomorrow and and the list. Oh, and it closes out with an excellent tune from one of my favorite bands…can’t beat that:

1. “My Sister” – Julianna Hatfield Three
2. “Oh Daddy” – Adrian Belew
3. “Crazy” – Pylon
4. “Mockingbirds” – Grant Lee Buffalo
5. “My City Was Gone” – Pretenders
6. “Bullet” – The Reverend Horton Heat
7. “Evangeline” – Matthew Sweet
8. “Ecstacy (Apple of My Eye)” – Strawberry Switchblade
9. “Queen of the Surface Streets”- DeVotchKa
10. “Waiting Room” – Fugazi
11. “Strange” – Wire
12. “TOP SECRET MAN” – Plastics
13. “Mental Hopscotch” – Missing Persons
14. “Alex Chilton” – The Replacements

Been another week.

Although I started strong with a fifty-miler on Sunday and a few smaller rides later on, I spent a lot of the week struggling through allergies and aches associated with some sort of bug the kid brought home from school. I’m largely past it, I think, but it wasn’t ideal; I was productive with work (I’m shepherding half-a-dozen requirements packages to approval this month, while still trying to run a test cycle and tie a bow in organizing the program management center’s workload along TBM lines…I have too many jobs), but had little left for the evenings, leading to things like a Thursday afternoon unplanned 90 minute nap.

Not much of a story, really. I watched a couple of things on TV and paid some bills, but apart from that, not much to report.

Thankfully, so far I’m feeling better this morning, and am looking at a light workday, so we can spend some time with friends at Ravencon 15 this weekend, which is conveniently back in town after a few years in Williamsburg, and hopefully will be once again able to find its identity.

Interestingly, I’m attending as a civilian this year; no guest pass, no official gigs on the schedule. Just a regular attendee with a paid-for pass, taking things in. I just want to enjoy my friends’ musical performances, catch a panel or two, and see some folks I haven’t seen in a while. Also, Ravencon’s got it right with it’s COVID policy, so we really wanted to support that.

That, and maybe some grocery shopping, is about all I’ll be doing. After that, the coming week’s going to be doing my best to prep for the hundred-mile Cap2Cap ride next Saturday, which I hope is fun, but could also be a vain attempt to convince myself I’m not old…

Tunes: all over the place. Seriously:

1. “L.A.” – Elliot Smith
2. “The Empty Boat” – Caetano Veloso
3. “High On A Rocky Ledge” – Moondog
4. “Didn’t You Hear” – Mort Garson
5. “La Isla Bonita” – Large Plants
6. “Vancouver” – Jeff Buckley
7. “The Train” – Frank Sinatra
8. “Take It Off The Top” – Dixie Dregs
9. “Dancing Days” – Stone Temple Pilots
10. “Spirit Halloween Theme Song” – Nick Lutsko
11. “Lady Macbeth In Chains” – Sufjan Stevens
12. “Turn Over The World” – Perry Farrell, Starcrawler, Taylor Hawkins, Etty Lau Farrell
13. “Xanadu” – The GOASTT