My weekend starts now.

Phish Heads

I hope that anybody who is the kind of person who reads a blog wouldn't fall for such a thing, but when I got home from work today, I found TWO "phishing" emails in my inbox, both purporting to be from the IRS, telling me that I (and the dozen other people in the "TO" line) were suspected of cheating on my taxes. For grins, I followed the link and it has a form with an IRS graphic at the top that asks for every bit of personal information an identity thief could dream of. To start with, I told them my name was Haywood Jablowmie, and I live in Maroon, TX. My drivers license number was "ABC EZ AS 123". When I got to the spot where it asked for my mother's maiden name, I'm afraid I got a little testy and dropped a C-bomb in there.

Anyway, y'all might want to warn any friends and family that might be slightly more trusting/gullible.

Technical Details

I did a whois lookup on deptreas.org, which is where the link takes you. Here are some of the results:

Registrant Name:JKR inc
Registrant Street1:62 Camberley Avenue West Wimbledon
Registrant City:London
Registrant Postal Code:SW20 0BQ
Registrant Email:heather[XXXXX]@yahoo.co.uk
Admin Name:[REDACTED]

(5/1/2004 -- I've taken out the full email and name of the person listed, because a friend reminded me that it's possible that the domain was registered with stolen information.)

Now I'm not suggesting that Heather is a bad person. Perhaps her name is being used nefariously. And I'm not saying that I'd go so far as to submit that email address to anywhere that might use it further for more nefarious purposes. That would be just not right.

Shout Out

Hello to the Logan Circle Guy, who was clever enough to post a funny Morrissey link, which I should have remembered to include in my post yesterday. His blog is linked up on the right there. Go there and look. He also beat me to the punch on posting something about Bob Edwards. Farkin' NPR. Anyway, read him.

current music

Morrissey- Southpaw Grammar

Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now

I was looking for a job

It's official. I'm unemployed again as of the end of this week. I do have an interview lined up for Friday. It's up in Arlington, VA, however, which will make the living/commuting logistics interesting, should it get that far. My immediate thought is to keep the house here in Richmond and try to find a studio or one bedroom place somewhere in NoVa that can be my pied-à-terre during the week. I guess I'd better get the job first.

And then I found a job

I was highly amused yesterday evening to find a message on my answering machine, as well as an email, informing me of a contract position available at my previous employer. Even more interesting is the fact that another guy in the office where I'm currently working (until tomorrow), is applying for the same position with a different contracting company. I don't want to jeapordize his chances, but I think there might be multiple opportunities. And heck, I know I'm qualified. Would it be too weird to go work there, with all the same people? I guess weird trumps broke, so I'm going to start the ball rolling on that one too.

Why Don't You Find Out for Yourself

The Mozzer is back, looking and sounding pretty good. You can see the video at VH1.com, the single ("Irish Blood English Heart") is released next Tuesday, and the full CD follows on 18 May. These are all U.S. dates, of course. (Full disclosure, the video link is from the blog Oh Manchester, So Much To Answer For.) I think Morrissey is looking pretty good in the video, and I really like the song. Made me break out Vauxhall and I last night. If you're lucky enough to live in or around NYC, he's playing five nights there next week. I don't know about ticket availability, because I can't go anyway.

One Way Or Another

I'll have to be satisfied with going to see Blondie at Innsbrook After Hours.

current music

Underworld - AHundredDaysOff (heh. I didn't even think of that in the context of my job sitch. silly subconscious!)

Contact

Since the fine folks at Google were kind enough to offer me a Gmail account, I accepted it and have added some contact information over there on the right. Not a direct link, because I'd like to make believe I can keep some of the spam at bay, but all the required info is there. And here: LarryMac -- at --- gmail ---- dot ----- com.

You know, for years, I had a mostly spam free inbox at my "main" ISP address. Then last year I put my resume up on Monster and I guess I somehow left the email available for harvesting. Bam, an inbox filled with offers for \/1agra, Nigerian 429 scams, and ways to cut my M0rtg4ge p4yments. Luckily, I heard about K9, which does a fairly good job at filtering the crap. On the other hand, a couple weeks ago I signed up at HotJobs and started to get even more crap.

I guess this is the price I pay for searching for a job. And since I got an interview lined up via HotJobs, perhaps I shouldn't complain too much.

A Gripping Story Pulled Straight From Today's Headlines!

I was going to try to address the idiocy that is going on in the name of our country, specifically in Iraq, but I just can't gather enough coherent thoughts. Of course, there are a lot of other stupid insane things being done in, to, and by our country that I get upset about, but there are other blogs I've been reading that are so much more eloquent than I could ever be.

So just a couple things I gathered while cruising around the news sites this morning.

If you live in Lousiana, your FedEx package might be a little late.

Little help over here, Toby?


Just in case you thought it might be safe to express yourself, don't do it.

current music

- assorted stuff I got from Paste Magazine

Countdown

Two . . . One

The model rocket launching was only partially successful. One of them got taken by a rocket-eating tree. The other rocket came within an inch of landing on the roof of an office building on first launch, but did make it to the ground. The second launch was more successful, although we still were having parachute deployment issues.

We also discovered that you can't actually get onto the grounds of the public schools around here, so our launch site was relocated to The Innsbrook Pavilion area.

I'm going to have to figure out a better place to go and play.

Dos

After last week's service fiasco at Nacho Mama, it's only fair that I relate the superior service experienced last night at Rio Grande Cafe. We had just finished inhaling the first ramekin of salsa when our server walked up with a new one. We hadn't even asked. My friend was drinking "just Coke" and after the first glass was delivered in the standard giant Coca-Cola cup, he joked with the server about trying to be less conspicuous. When that first cup was empty, we said "wouldn't it be great if the guy came out with a refill in a frosty mug?" Within minutes, and again without a specific request, suddenly there was a Coke in a frosty mug delivered to our table. Anyway, the food itself was just OK -- although it was hot when delivered, so they get points there. The point being, of course, that good service and mediocre food trumps bad service and any kind of food.

current music

Bob Mould - Trucks

Family Weekend

Rack of Lamb!

My brother and family are in town for the weekend. I got to meet my little six month old nephew for the first time last night.



Today we're going to fly kites and/or launch model rockets. And my sister-in-law caught sight of Short Pump Town Center as they were coming into town, so I imagine there might be a stop there at some point.

Pat on the back

The photo I mentioned is up as the welcome screen at Eric Himan's website. No "credit" though. Hmm, I'll have to ask about that. Have to get some photos up and organized on my website, too, so it'll be worth linking to.

current music

Zero 7 - Simple Things

Two things

Funny

I was thinking of trying to write something about Kevin Spacey's escapades in London, but I think this covers the subject quite well.

Introspective

Since discovering Bob Mould's blog the other day, I've spent a lot of time reading his archives, and reading some of the blogs that he links to. I'm awed by the amount of revelation some of these guys do. I think I write some personal things on here occasionally, but there's a slight sense of security knowing that hardly anybody is reading anyway. Plus when I do choose to write something personal, I still play it very close to the vest. Of course, I'm not the writer some of those guys either. As always, lots to think about. Stupid brain.

current music

The Postal Service - Give Up

Drive By

Pho is yummy

Vinh Phat makes a great bowl o' pho. The shrimp rolls are pretty good too.

Two phrases that will make me laugh and then have to say "it's a long story"

• Rack of lamb
  
• Streets of Reykjavik Iceland
  

PC Load Letter?

"There is a null path through the grammar that contains NL commands. This is not allowed."

What the fuck does that mean?

current music

Zero 7 - When It Falls

Over the Hump

Y'all might want my autograph before I get famous

You may recall that on Friday I mentioned having sent some photos to Eric Himan, which I took at his performance at Babes last year. This morning at one freaking fifteen when I stumbled into the room I refer call my office to see who the fuck was calling me (ah, exes, you've gotta love 'em), I noticed that I had email from Eric's publicist. She said my work was awesome. I'm all giddy because nobody ever called my photos "work" before. I like, have an ouevre now.

Anyway, there is a chance that one of the photos will be used as a welcome screen on the site. Woo hoo!

Cerveza fria, por favor

Last night I met Caitlin at Nacho Mama in Carytown for dinner. It was pretty awful. If there was a hostess, I don't know where she was, because I stood at the entrance for ten minutes without anybody saying a word to me. I finally stepped up to the bar to get a beer, and heard another customer ask "hasn't it been a long time since we ordered?" Now I'm not a restaurant professional, but isn't the correct answer to that "Yes sir, let me check on that for you."? Apparently not, because the bartender just stood there and said "there's a lot of people in the restaurant." I really should have taken that as the omen that it was, but I soldiered on.

Caitlin arrived and we attempted to ask one of the waitresses that was flitting back and forth to the patio about getting a table out there. She said something unintelligible and kept walking. Needless to say, by the time we got ahold of the person who was keeping the sacred patio seating list, we'd have been waiting all night, so we chose to eat at the bar.

Our appetizer was nearly cold when we got it -- and really, fried jalapeno poppers ought not be cold. Even more amusing was the delivery of our entree. Bartender boy had on the giant asbestos lined glove and gingerly put my plate in front of me, warning "it's very hot!" Ummm, yeah, perhaps it was TWENTY MINUTES EARLIER, which has to have been when it was ready. I bravely touched the plate with my bare hands and got a chill. Caitlin's plate was no better of course.

Look, I understand that it was busy - although, really, if you can't handle the Tuesday night "crowd," I think you're in trouble. But there's just no excuse for surly uncaring waitstaff. They probably got that way from the lousy tips they get. Because they're surly and uncaring.

current music

Lloyd Cole - Etc

Do You Remember?

I don't even know what path I took to get there, but I discovered yesterday that Bob Mould has a blog. I added a link over there on the right. Looks like he lives in DC now and DJs at a couple places around town. Interesting.

If you are scratching your head about who Bob Mould is, well first of all, shame on you. Secondly, he was the guitar player and singer for Hüsker Dü, one of the seminal US punk bands (which he refers to on his blog solely as "my 80's band") and then went on to produce some excellent albums on his own and with the band Sugar (I have the original limited-availability version of Copper Blue, with a sleeve made of, surprisingly enough, copper) and then on his own again for several more albums. A couple of which, I have just discovered, I don't have yet. They're on that Granary Music site, you can find 'em if you poke around.

I'm pretty happy to have stumbled across his blog. I have missed many shows in my time, but I really regret not seeing Bob at the Iron Horse in Northampton, MA back in the day. Perhaps I will have to plan a trip to DC. Not that I'm planning on being a fanboy/stalker, I'm just particularly intrigued by shirtless men night at the Green Lantern.

current music

Sugar - Besides

More Fun With Nouns

Inertia

I e-mailed the recruiter this morning and said "no thanks" to the Kansas gig. Now is just not the right time for me to try to relocate, nor to try to work some fancy long-distance-every-other-weekend commuting thing. Not all the way to and from Overland Park Kansas, anyway. On the other hand, I really need to kick it up a notch on the job search thing, as well as the
get-the-house-and-life-into-more-easily-relocatable-shape thing. I'm beginning to get a little worried. Just saying "something will turn up" is not really going to make something turn up. Heck, if that worked, I'd have a boyfriend, a mansion, and a yacht.

Denial

On Saturday, I went to Plan 9 Records "just to look." Who knew that the Depeche Mode Singles box sets (1 through 3) were being re-released, with the addition of three new ones? Then I noticed that they had a CD from Lloyd Cole that I had missed. At that point, I checked my wallet, but found that my Plan 9 discount card wasn't in there, so I satisfied myself with just on one of the DM sets (5 for those of you playing at home), since it was on sale anyway.

Subsequent research led me to discover the there is another Lloyd Cole disc due for release tomorrow, and I managed to jot down a couple other things the check for. Also, I put my discount card in my wallet so I wouldn't forget.

Note to self: you have no money to spend on CDs, fool.

Kin

Woo hoo, I get to meet my 6 month old nephew for the first time on Friday.

current music

Pet Shop Boys - Single

The Long-Neglected Friday Grab Bag

Revival

It seems I've been neglecting my duties since I got back from vacation. Vacations sometimes change things. I know that I felt like I was "looking for something" when I was away. I'm not sure what it was, or if I found it, or if I'd even have recognized it had it jumped up and bit me on the ass. Something found me, though. Just a little clarity about thoughts and feelings and all that other navel-gazing shit.

But that's not important right now.

At least I got one really good photograph.

Removal

I found out the other night that a guy I used to play NTN Trivia with chose to end his life last week. He wasn't a close friend - for years, I only knew his playing handle, and I never knew more than his first name. Obviously, I'll never know what made him decide to choose the path that he did, and I can only hope that it somehow brought him peace. He was always there, and now he won't be, which is the part that's going to hurt.

Here's to you, Chris. I raise my glass of whichever beer is on special tonight to you. I'll miss seeing you and arguing with you about stupid shit.

Relocation?

I got a call from a recruiter yesterday, telling me about a job doing that thing I do. Which is good, because I need a new full-time gig. (Desperately!). The position, however, is in Overland Park, Kansas.

That would be a bit of a commute. One of the items on this weekend's task list is to figure out if I should even consider this further.

Recordings

Everybody should check out The Long Winters. I saw them the other night at The Starr Hill Music Hall (and brewery!) and they were great.

I've also been listening again to Eric Himan, because I finally sent him some of the picures I took when he played in Richmond last December.

current music

Rufus Wainwright - Want One

Follow that car!

I have wanted a MINI Cooper since they were re-introduced. I like the looks of the car, I like the marketing campaign, I bought The Italian Job on DVD just for the Coopers, and I even know what I want my license plate to say (which I won't reveal here, because I don't want my idea stolen.) But I never thought of the Cooper as a speedy little car.

current music

Run Lola Run soundtrack.

It's all about me

Hey, how about that? I got myself my very own vanity domain. See link on the right.

It'll get better. It could hardly get worse, right? Unless I used a blink tag. That would suck.

It's all about meme

So, yesterday while I was researching the radio station links for my post, I spent some time poking around the WCCX website, and reading the message board they have there, checking to see what all the "kids" are "into" these days. It's one of the bulletin board systems that allows users to have a little picture appear with their name. One of the guys had a little animated GIF of the badger cartoon.

This morning, I was reading Slashdot, and there's a story about installing Linux in a dead badger. I didn't read the details, go find it yourself if you want.

Just a little while ago, a friend pointed me to this story.

Frankly, I find it all a bit scary.

current music

Coldplay - Live at Glastonbury

Brothers.

My little brother and I have a musical bond. There is, of course, the standard sibling bond as well, primarily embodied by the phrase "rack of lamb," but that's another post. The musical thing, though, was engendered by that holiest of eras, The 80's. And it mostly happened during the 80's. None of the johnny-come-lately stuff for us, nosirree.

This musical bond was also assisted by the presence in the greater Hartford (CT) area of several rather good college radio stations -- WRTC, WWUH, WESU, WFCS, (on a good day, if you were more southwest than
northeast - WXCI), and of course WHUS, where I even did a couple of stints as a staff DJ. (I'd also DJ-ed at WCCX when I was in college, but let's just say that my musical tastes were less than fully developed at the time.) With coverage like that, there was almost always a chance to find a show playing some great non-commercial punk/new wave/indie music.

In Arms

My brother and I often talk about "what's new" musically, and he's asked me more than once "how do you find new stuff?" (Is Hartford devoid of good college radio these days or does he live too far out in the boonies to get a good signal?) I guess I find it checking out things like Paste Magazine, or Starbucks compilations (yeah, yeah, so sue me), or from other people.

Like last week, on my way to the airport, I was listening to The Kings of Convenience, Quiet Is The New Loud. I'd been introduced to KoC by my ex, who was very much into what I guess is described as the "new folk" genre, primarily of the female singer songwrite type, but with occasional forays into something including a Y chromosome or two.

So when I went to see my brother last summer, I made sure to have a lot of my newer discs with me. We ended up one evening having to tear apart his washing machine, and decided it was a good time for music, so I grabbed Quiet Is The New Loud from my bag. It was "newer" then, and different, and I just thought it would go over well. I put it into the boombox and hit play. The first notes of guitar came out, then the gentle harmonies of Erland Oye and Eirik Glambek Boe.

"Oh," said my brother, "Simon and Garfunkel."



I didn't even bother with The Postal Service.