I’m posting this Thursday, because of the observed Veteran’s day holiday tomorrow, as I’ll probably be mostly off the ‘tubes for the weekend. I have dance concerts to attend, potential assistance to provide, and a bit of a break to prepare for.

After this week, which included yesterday’s Quarterly Dog and Pony Show*™ in the environs of Our Nation’s Capital where I had to be “on” for most of six straight hours (an introvert’s nightmare), and the weekend, I get to spend a week in a class to top off another level of my public sector program management certification requirements, which keeps me out of the office for a week, spending my days in an off-site training center which has the benefit of being only about two miles from my front door. If the weather improves over this week’s overcast dampness and the sun maybe shows its face at all, I might even commute via bicycle, which is a novelty I’m actually kind of looking forward to.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to a week away from this project. I’ve largely (barring one particular issue I’m hoping to settle this afternoon) got things set to run on autopilot for the week – my minions keep working their magic while we wait for the target system to get their shit together, which would be a nice change.

I’ve also got tickets for Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s “An Astrophysicist Goes to the Movies” show downtown on Wednesday night. I’m looking forward to it.

Otherwise this week, I was pretty happy with the election results, both here at home and across the country. Virginia looks good in blue, as they say. Especially, I love the election of Danica Roem in the 13th district, the first openly transgender official elected to state office in Virginia, mostly by running on infrastructure issues and not rising to the bait of her asshole conservative opponent. She’s also a kick-ass policy wonk with a background in journalism, but also plays in a very rockin’ metal band. She may not be my representative by geography, but she’s my represtentative in my heart.

Anyway, I’ve mostly got prog-rock playing in the background today (I’m kind of feeling long, arch and noodly), but I did run this “random” Pandora list this morning, which is a bit more punky, but still makes room for 22 minutes of Tull. It was also followed immediately by Yes’s “Roundabout”, which got my whole business started:

1. “Be My Baby” – The Dollyrots
2. “Thick as a Brick” – Jethro Tull
3. “Pass it Around” – The Donnas
4. “Love Bites” – Def Leppard
5. “Suffragette City”- David Bowie
6. “Crumbling Down” – Go Betty Go
7. “Something to Believe In” – Poison
8. “Let Me Down Easy” – Gang of Youths
9. “Tell It Like It Is” – Quix*o*tic
10. “Evermore”- Grandaddy
11. “Train in Vain” – The Clash

To keep the Stranger Things business going, I think I have the bones of a song in the works related to season 2. Getting inside Eleven’s head a little bit and co-opting a certain repetitive mantra that makes itself known in the first half of the run. I played with it last night, and this morning, I still don’t hate it, so…we’ll see.

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* – not including any actual dogs or ponies, I’m sad to say…