RustBlog

Louis Menand on Neo-Conservatives

"The present condition of the neo-conservative movement is the outcome of a gradual case of sclerosis of political attitudes. All the stages of the movement's development were based on the primitive psychology of the "break" -- the felt need, as one ages, to demonize the exact position one formerly occupied. The enemy is always the person you just outgrew. So -- going all the way back to the omphalos, Alcove 1 in the City College cafeteria, where Kristol and his friends fought with the Stalinists in Alcove 2 -- the Trotskyists hated the fellow-travellers they once had been; the Cold War liberals hated the Trotskyists they once had been; and the neo-conservatives hated the liberals they once had been. Now the hardening is complete. Neoconservativism has merged with the politics that its founders, in their youth, held in greatest contempt: the jingoist and capitalist American right. We look from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but it is impossible to say which is which."

Louis Menand, "Breaking Away", The New Yorker, March 27,2006

Mezbaan (Indian Food)

Had dinner with Elias from work at Mezbaan, an Indian restaurant on Victoria Park just north of York Mills. Elias knows the guy who runs it via family connections in Tejas.

Dinner tonight was:
- butter chicken (omg)
- rice
- lamb ghosh (?) (no bones, please?)
- delicious naan
- channa (chickpeas in some sauce - so good...)

God I am stuffed. All I had prior to that today was a protein bar, water and a couple of coffees.

Then I went to the Second Cup and tried to read Larry's new biochem textbook (he gave me a copy!) but I faded after beta-oxidation.

--R.

Arlo Guthrie

May 9th, 2006, 8pm
Massey Hall

Placeholder post to nag me to write a review of the Arlo Guthrie concert I saw.... =D

Played for about 2.5 hours, including a 15 minute break and a 30 minute version of Alice's Restaurant...

--R.

New look

So I've been spending time to learn how to make CSS work. I'm aiming for an homogeneous (or is that homegenous, argh...) look for my various websites. More professional, even.

Also I need to write more, but lately I've been spending all my time either working, working out, or reading. Not even playing EverQuest much, but when I do I'm trying to reconnect with guildies - I don't spend enough time contributing to the guild as I used to in the past and I don't know most of the guild any more. The only two people left in the guild from when I joined are Grimwalker and Durok, and Grim was away for a long time (he's back now!).

I'll have to write something about EQ... which would involve explaining where I get 'Rust' from... which goes back to JediMUD in 1992 or so... ok, added to my agenda.

Working out has been good too - in part because I want to actually be able to throw a baseball to first base, and to hit balls for more than a dribbly single through the infield... and in part because being overweight and out of shape certainly hasn't done me any favours for dating, so maybe losing some weight and toning up will help. Plus I've had to start eating a lot better (and a lot less).

I am lucky to have had some people I know from the local coffee shop offering me hints and tips. The fact that one of them is:
- pretty much the nicest person I know, period;
- smart, funny and a very patient listener (this is important!);
- absolutely drop-dead pretty,
certainly helps. They've *all* been quite kind, I must say, considering how unclued I am in the gym environment generally...

Another to-do post is explaining my workout habits, I guess.

More later.

--R.

Bloghost upgrade

Well, just upgraded the server from a somewhat ancient and noisy Pentium-II 300MHz to an Athlon64 1.8 GHz.

Should be a *bit* zippier now.

--R.

"The Cheque Is In The Mail"

So I started work on March 10th [see below], and finally got the incorporation dance done by early April. The company is a numbered one - after 5 tries on 'how about XXXX Corp?' coming up 'taken!' I put the naming off for later. I got my GST number, I got my shiny share certificate, I even have a corporate seal (the metal kind, not the whiskers/flippers/eats fish kind).

So the money flows in! Not.

It's now a week or more since I got all my details, and it turns out that the recruiter at the agency [hereafter, RecruitCorp] that is pimping me... left the agency. So I get an email from a RecruitCorp VP named Mark informing me of this. Turns out they've lost any paperwork I sent in for timesheets, and the fact that the ex-recruiter agreed to cover my parking (around $20 per day in downtown) may also be a goner.

So I emailed my contact at RecruiterCorp and asked 'so... paperwork okay now... status please' and got back 'I think it's in the mail'.

So at the advanced age of 38 I have finally heard one of the Great Lies.

[below] -- On March 8th, I got a call from the recruiter asking if I was still on the market. Since I'd been 'on the market since November 11th (thanks Kumquat for picking such a memorable date...) I said yes, and was told to show up at 9am on Friday March 10 for a job interview.

Except it turns out the client wasn't interested in interviewing me, they wanted me to START on Friday. We had to leave shortly after showing up (I had other things I was committed to do that day) but they agreed we had 'started' on Friday... so I was paid for 8 hours for showing up at a job interview. I did spend several hours on the weekend reading stuff they sent me, so it adds up.

peace

--R.

Today I Am A Corporation!

Okay, so I was let go at the end of last year as part of the Great 10% Downsizing at Kumquat Computing, and I found out that Christmas is a *really* bad time to be looking for a new gig. Then January was a dead time as well, and by February I was actually enjoying doing nothing... which is either a good or a bad thing. I'd had some job interviews, but nothing had panned out -- I was on several people's 'if we get an opening you're in!' lists (how much you want to credit those sort of statements is a personal decision...).

So in March I got a call to ask if I was interested in a short-term contract (3 months) as a contract UNIX sysadmin. For those of you who don't know, if you contract, you get a few dollars an hour more if you incorporate, since the agency pimping you does a pass-through on the money, no serious paperwork.

So I had to incorporate myself. I went as a numbered corporation as the first several ideas I had were taken (Cambrian Consulting etc.). I get to go pick up some paperwork after work today - then I suppose I have to get a bank account, some cheques, and THEN sign a contract with the agency (we're a few weeks in now, and I still haven't been paid, thank G-d for savings...).

So today I became a Corporation. Now I start figuring out how to expense stuff legally so it comes out of corporate income (tax rate is 18% on the first $250K of income for a corporation and a lot of allowable expenses are tax-deducible for companies).

Things I can deduct now:
- cell phone
- parking, mileage to/from work (a measly 6km, hm...)
- part of my rent (my office at home just became my Corporation's Head Office)
- computer h/w, s/w
- part of my utilities, internet access, etc.

So my lousy-record-keeping-self needs to start being meticulous about receipts....

--R.

Lost Some Updates

I managed to glitch the mySQL database behind the blog, so I lost a few updates.

Oops.

--R.

2006 Concerts

Date	Artist	Venue	Comments/Fly-in-the-Ointment
Jan ??	Blue Rodeo	Massey Hall	2nd row seats, Jim side!
March 3rd	Blind Boys of Alabama	Massey Hall	I totally forgot about this concert.
March 11	Billy Bragg	Opera House	The Incredible Hulk
March 22	Dream Theater	Massey Hall	So apparently I like Prog Metal...
April 15	Tony Levin	Rochester NY
May 9th	Arlo Guthrie	Massey Hall

Nazareth

September 11, 2005
Lee's Palace (Toronto)

Ok, it's only 2 of the original band members, and I was never a fan back in the day, but CHRIST these guys can still put on a show. They played for about 500 people in a fairly-crowded Lee's Palace on a Sunday night and hit the stage around 10pm.... and effing rocked! The show was energetic from the first to last, and they clearly were having a gas playing.

Fly-in-the-Ointment: That Polish guy who shoved his way repeatedly to the stagefront, tried to hand the band beers (Labatt's Blue, omg) and then started shouting at them during a lull where the lead singer was trying to banter with the crowd, provoking a 'Will you shut the feck up?' from him. I don't know what he was on but he was shouting 'Do you like Polish man? I am fan, two years, NAZARETH....' at least that's what it sounded like.

Even the roadies were fun - one of them handed a set list, drumsticks and guitar picks to this short guy standing at the front before the show started, who had a disposable camera and clearly was the #1 Nazareth fan (Polish Lunatics excluded) there that night.

And on the way out, I saw a girl carrying an iguana, inside the club. And I don't smoke.

wow.

--R.

Why is a Job Like a Woman

I was having a snack at a bakery/cafe with Koan, and two of the subjects we discussed over coffee and pie (yum) was 'being out of work' and 'being out of relationship' ... I said it would be interesting to try to write an article that applied equally to both situations - when you're unemployed, or un-relationshipped.... so this is a challenge to myself to do this in the next few days, or at least write something that covers both feelings, as my current emplyer informed me a few weeks ago that my team was being eliminated due to ... budget cuts. 'Nothing personal, we love you, we love your work, but... there's no more money to pay you.' Feel the love.

--D.

2005 Concert List

My 2005 Concert List

The most up-to-date list of concerts I have seen or will see in 2005.

Date	Artist	Venue	Comments/Fly-in-the-Ointment
Feb 19th	Joe Cocker	Casino Rama	Twitchy hands, great singer.
Mar 6th	Keren Ann	Horseshoe	Very intimate show!
Mar 29th	Greg Keelor	Lee's Palace	Doing shots with the bartender, not a brilliant move :(
Apr 4th	Duran Duran	ACC	Gave ticket away :/
Apr 18th	Ani DiFranco	Hummingbird	Gave ticket away :/
Apr 25th	Motorhead	Docks	That guy who just wouldn't stop talking to me!
Apr 30th	Uncle Funk	Keegan Ale	Meeting Tony, Jerry, Jesse, and INSANE SHANE MCKANE!!!
May 21st	Gordon Lightfoot	Massey Hall	Home movies I got!
Jun 5th	Judas Priest	Molson Amp	woot
Jun 7th	Alanis Morissette	Hummingbird	I almost drowned in estrogen...
Jul 5th	Mark Knopfler	Molson Amp	His voice isn't what it used to be. Sad.
Jul 6th	Robert Plant	Molson Amp	Goddamn, I forgot how good he is live.
Jul 7th	Femi Kuti	Opera House	Joe, The Human Dance Machine!
Jul 12th	John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers	Phoenix	Shook the man's hand
Jul 14th	Bruce Springsteen	ACC	Rules....Rules.... RULES!!!
Aug 3rd	Iron Maiden	Molson Amp	Kicked ASS |..|/ \|..|
Aug 11th	Meat Loaf	Casino Rama	"'59 Mercury" Encore
Aug 15th	Def Leppard	Molson Amp	The boys loved the crowd, and got love back.
Aug 22nd	Alice Cooper & Cheap Trick	The Docks	The Dead Crowd && being sick
Aug 26th	Blue Rodeo	Molson Amp	Idiots talking behind us
Sep 6th	Elton John	ACC	That luminous jelly dildo that kid was waving
Sep 11th	Nazareth	Lee's Palace
Sep 15th	George Carlin	Casino Rama
Sep 16th	U2	ACC
Oct 1st	Tony Levin Band	Keegan Ales
Oct 2nd	Steve Hackett Trio	Hamilton Place
Nov 5th	Slippermen (Genesis Tribute)	Opera House
Dec 3rd	The Musical Box	Massey Hall
March 3rd, 2006	Blind Boys of Alabama	Massey Hall
May 9th, 2006	Arlo Guthrie	Massey Hall

EltonJohn

September 6, 2005
Air Canada Centre, Toronto

Started with 'Pinball Wizard', which is funny because a couple years agi I saw The Who (well, Daltrey and Townsend) beat the living bejeezus out of that song on the same stage. Sir Elton did a more pop version of it, but he's not Roger and the guitarist for Elton is not Pete. Still, it was a heck of a concert - he came on around 8:10 and basically played over 2.5 hours, leaving the stage a few minutes before 11 after his finale of Crocodile Rock (which drove one of my companions nuts as it's her #1 fave song) and... mind gone blank on the last song. (Argh.)

No major fly-in-the-ointment tonight - maybe the kid 15 rows ahead of us who was constantly waving what looked like a multi-hued jelly dildo in the shape of the CN tower (with an attached flashlight handle). If I knew what it was I'd find it online and post a link....

His drummer was apparently his original from the 1969 Elton John band. Bad with names, shoot me.

Good show, but oddly Elton leaves me a bit cold. Oh, his voice doesn't do the high squeaky range now. My friends loved it.

--R.

P.S. We all sang 'Hold me closer, Tony Danza' REALLY LOUD during the chorus and laughed.

Blue Rodeo

August 26, 2005
Molson Ampitheater, Toronto

Ok, another summer means another concert by Blue Rodeo at the Molson Amp. Once again I got tickets early thru www.bluerodeo.com, and once again I got an extra ticket since I figured I could find someone, and once again it went unused....

The concert itself was pretty good. Not the best BR concert I've seen, but pretty good. The opening act was Matt Mays and El Torpedo, and they are a pretty decent band, mostly from Dartmouth, N.S. They came on maybe at 8pm, and played for 40 min or so (I wasn't really paying attention to time). I picked up Matt May's CD at Best Buy today, haven't listened yet.

Once BR got on stage, they let fans zerg the railing, so we went from benig in the 2nd row (the seats left of center) to '2nd row with 3 rows of people standing in front of us'. We could see Greg and Jim though so it was ok. I had to stand for some of the photos.

The 'Fly in the Ointment' was the idiots right behind us, who yapped constantly during songs. That and the woman on my right whose laugh could probably be used as a crowd control device, or to cut sheet metal.

Photos of the concert: link

Greg blew the lyrics to 'Side of the Road' a couple of times. I think I got a short .mov of it before the batteries gave out.

--R.

Cheap Trick/ Alice Cooper

August 22nd, 2005
The Docks, Toronto

This concert was a bit cursed. I wasn't feeling 100%, and I was going with Henry, who called to tell me he'd done something to his back and had to pass on the concert. So I drove down and asked what scalpers were giving for a pair of tickets - $5 apiece. Yay.

So I figured I'd give the 2nd ticket away and go in and stay until I felt like leaving.

I went in, and just got in for Cheap Trick's first song. I was wayyyy at the back, but I could see the stage okay. The crowd was *dead* - it was a Monday night and they were really there for Alice Cooper, I suspect. A few of us at the back cheered and applauded - it was odd being able to hear my own applause clearly in a crowded room.

The crowd got to me -- it seemed uncaring, or somehow disrespectful to just stand there like a bunch of Emos and not cheer or applaud....

At the end of Cheap Trick I'd had enough, and bailed on Uncle Alice. I hope he did fine, I like his music fine, but not feeling well made me want to bail, so I did.

--R.