For a short holiday week, I’ve been awfully busy at work trying to line all kinds of things up for the end of the calendar year slow season. Project documentation review/edits, trying to figure out how to support a last-minute test support request when most of the technical experts are on use-or-lose leave, seemingly never-ending “town hall” meetings with various flavors of leadership trying to tie up the year while folks are still here, which often include aggressively obstructionist vaccine mandate “questions” and all that…plus, y’know, unless they do something in DC, we’re out of money come next Friday.

Given all that, I need a little break to clear the head, so I’m taking a long Thanksiving weekend, and largely unplugging; leaving the email, headlines, social media, and even the phone in do-not-disturb mode for a couple of days, and just giving thanks for the peace and quiet.

Ideally, the only bandwith I’m planning on using will be dedicated to streaming services to watch some of the wealth of great newish TV that’s popped up in the last week or two. Seriously, between the live-action Cowboy Bebop, Wheel of Time, MotU Revelation part two, Hawkeye and my new favorite, The Great out there, I’m planning on logging some serious lazy couch time this weekend with good food and likely a couple of good beers.

Yeah, I’ll still do my best to get some outside time (had a wonderful four mile hike after work yesterday for example) and get the chores done and the bills paid, but really, my primary goal is to rest, relax, and tune out the stressors of the world for a couple of days.

So, really, don’t expect to see much of me through the series of tubes, because I’ll be chilling and detoxing in meatspace.

Before I go, though, as is tradition at the end of my week (whenever that happens to be), I make a list of what the algorithms serve up for me to listen to based on whatever data it uses to track me. This latest playlist is surprising, consisting largely of deep cuts from retro indie rock, given that my soundtrack for the last couple of weeks has been a bunch of Zappa, Prog Rock, and bits of the new Adele record.

That said, I kinda dig the overall upbeat vibe it’s throwing, recognize that Zappa connection at #9 that somebody’s going to call me on, and am somewhat perplexed at the multiple mentions of Venus.

Hope your holiday weekend is as restful as I’m intending mine to be. Rawk:

1. “The Slider” – T. Rex
2. “Under My Thumb” – Pentagram
3. “Get It On” – Kingdom Come
4. “Far Side of Crazy” – Wall of Voodoo
5. “Radar Gun” – The Bottle Rockets
6. “Goodbye (live)” – Oingo Boingo
7. “Wolfman Jack” – Todd Rungren
8. “Three Of A Perfect Pair” – Between the Buried and Me
9. “Big Eyed Beans from Venus” – Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
10. “Nitro” – Dick Dale
11. “Venus of Avenue D” – Mink DeVille
12. “Stray Cat Strut” – Stray Cats
13. “Down With Disease” – Phish
14. “Keep It Out of Sight” – Dr. Feelgood
15. “Happy Boy” – The Beat Farmers