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.

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.

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.

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.

Crest Tooth Whitening Strips

So if you don't know, I drink a lot of coffee (mostly espresso) on a daily basis, and I have noticed that it sort of has my teeth looking ...well, coffee-tinted. This in spite of the fact I get my teeth cleaned by Janice in Dr. Ted's office 2x a year (with x-rays 1x a year) like clockwork. So after seeing all the hooplah about these tooth-whitening strips, I figure, 'hey, I want white teeth, not slightly beige ones' so I picked up a kit at SDM (Shoppers Drug Mart) for some ungodly price and then left them in that car for a week before finally spotting them and dragging them up to my apartment.

So this morning, I am sitting here with two flimsy bits of plastic film positioned on my upper and lower front teeth, enjoying the experience of acheiving suitably super-model-white dentition.

OMG, these taste horrible.

From reading the liner notes, it seems they're just a plastic substrate, with a gel layer containing some unknown percentage of some (hydrogen?) peroxide. You slide them onto your choppers for 30 minutes, 2x a day, for 14 days, and then models will presumably find you irresistable for your gleaming gnashers.

Well, first day, first gels, and I'm sitting here with the mildly unpleasant taste of peroxide suffusing my mouth, causing me to drool like Jack the Mad Drooler on a really heavy Drool-like-you-love-it day. If you've ever had a cat you tried to give liquid antibiotics to (say, erythromycin), you'll have the image as my beard is accentuating the aesthetic.

Some particle of gel has even made its way to the back of my throat and is slowly dissolving its way to my spine via my pharynx.

Maybe the karmic tradeoff for being beautiful with white teeth is to be forced to sit with your mouth agape for an hour a day for two weeks, drooling like the aforementioned Jack. If so, I will be stoic and tough it out.

Remind me to get before-and-after photos of my teeth. NOTE: no 'during' photos as I do not plan to look like some unconscious college dorm-rat who was photographed for passing out and drooling all over himself.

Girls, want to make your SO know what it's like sleeping on the 'wet spot'? Make him try these things, he'll be drenched and hating it in his own saliva in seconds.

Ugh. Only 27 more sessions to my new, shiny teeth.

--R.

Travel

I'd just like to say that my new job needs a little too much travel. This will be the 5th or 6th week in a row I'm out of town, a day here, a few days there, and it really does start to wear on you. It probably didn't help that I drove to NYC (almost) to see Uncle Funk, and lost a weekend, but still, I need some down time.

New CD's: Peter Frampton The Encore Collection -- with a 16 minute version of 'Do You Feel Like We Do', a RealWorld collection of African Music and the CBC recording of Glenn Gould @ Massey Hall performing Beethoven's Piano Concertos #1 and #2.

Got to finish packing and drive to Detroit. Down there for two days on a course... so a bit less hassle than last week with me sitting in a room for 2 days while a bunch of us did a presentation to a customer. Ugh. I even had to buy a sport jacket to look sharp, and wore it for about 30 seconds inside the room as it was too hot.

--R.

Cold Call Charities

Ok, I'm a empathic guy, but half an hour ago, someone called from the Shriners to ask for money. Now I think they're nice people but really not a charity I really want to support. They're just not high on my list.

When I told the woman on the phone 'I think you people are great but I'm really not interested in helping you out' she came back with 'you're not interested in helping the children???' like I was admitting to being some kind of pedophile.

Now, if you call me up out of the blue and I say 'not interested, sorry', how DARE you pull that kind of guilt trip on my ass? I told her I didn't appreciate the tone she was taking, and she got even less friendly. So I politely said 'good luck' and ended the call.

How dare people act like somehow I'm obligated to shell out for their charity on a cold call? If I say no, say 'thank you, have a nice day' and end the call, morons!

--R.

Book: Thermodynamics by Enrico Fermi (1937)

Dover Books, ISBN 0-486-60361-X

This was a cool little Dover edition I snagged a few days ago in fond recollection of the days in 1987 when I studied Thermo in Eng Sci... and almost understood a little.

The book is slim (only 160 pages) and very well laid out. It starts from the First and Second Laws on ideal gases, then moves into a discussion of entropy. All very nicely written, not opaque in the least.

The last few chapters are on gaseous solutions, dilute solutions and entropy constants. Very nice, simple, book, really assumes no advanced math beyond partial differentials.

I'd suggest this as a good book for intro thermo classes any time.

--R.

Uncle Funk, Keegan's Ales, Kingston NY, 30-04-05

Who: Uncle Funk (Opening Acts: Fugue, Insane Shane McKane)
Where: Keegan Ales, Kingston NY
When: Saturday, April 30th, 2005

Ok, this was really a trip to see Tony Levin and Jerry Marotta. Tony is Peter Gabriel's bass player on almost all his records and tours, and Jerry was Peter's drummer when he first went solo for most of a decade.

Uncle Funk is a local band in the Kingston area, fronted by Joe Beesmer, who seems to be a fixture in the local music scene, who sings and plays guitar, then there's Jesse Gress on guitar, Tony Levin on bass, Pete Levin on keyboards and Jerry M. on drums. There's some serious talent in this band, and they really like to play...

From Toronto to Kingston is a shade under 500 miles, and I set out around 9 am Saturday. With a few stops on the way, including a 45 minute nap in a service area somewhere along the NY Turnpike, I pulled into the Keegan Ale's parking lot around 7pm (while parking, someone started yelling at me 'Al! Al!' but we quickly agreed that I was not, actually, Al). It was raining lightly so those of us who shower up early (doors to open at 7:30pm) stood around the doorway with its awning.

Got inside around 7:40 or so, then milled around. Met an ex-pat Montrealer, Susanne, who made me feel very welcome to the area. When she heard I'd driven down from Toronto, she and her boyfriend kindly offered me a couch to crash on that night.

"The Concert Hall"
Keegan Ales 'concert hall' is basically the inside of their brewery. The open floorspace is maybe 8m x 20m (if that) with a raised stage at one end. The image here is taken from a room at the other end that has a bar and could be called 'the lounge' I think...

Anyhow, after trying a glass of the IPA, "Hurricane Kitty", and a few nibbles, the first act, Fugue, hit the stage. Fugue is:

Michael Bernier -- Chapman Stick
Martin Keith -- Bass
Mike Schirmer -- Keyboards
Jack Ryon -- Saxophone
Ruperto Hill -- Drums

Someone said they were basically session musicians who formed a band. Not bad at all - tho' I don't recall knowing anything they played, they did quite well.

The next act was a bit of a shock to me, Insane Shane McKane. Now, when I drive in the car, I like to have something going to keep my brain ticking. In the morning, I listen to Howard Stern usually, and in the afternoon, to 'Don and Mike'. On the 28th, they pulled a prank on this guy, 'Insane Shane McKane' who sings a sort of 'country rap' fusion. They called him up and pretended to be huge fans, and then ripped on him. I listened to part of the bit, heard some of his music, but not all of it.

So then, two days later, I'm listening to him perform live. The guy's entertaining, I'll give him that. Country isn't my #1 genre, nor is rap, but he was fun to listen to.

Finally Uncle Funk hit the stage. Now, I passed on the playlist at the end of the night, but I do recall covers of:
"You Can Keep Your Hat On" (Joe Cocker)
"Take Me To The River"
"Cousin Dupree" (Steely Dan)

...and I'll try and reconstruct more of the setlist soon.

I took several dozen photos link and the concert was totally worth the trip.

During the show I chatted with a bunch of folk, including a big guy named Mike, Susanne (who vanished partway thru the show) and this quiet, cute redhead who turned out to be a PM from Big Blue, and like me, was there for the music, not for the free beer. :) At the end of the show I passed her my burned copy of Tony Levin Band's 'Double Espresso' album, which has Tony, Jerry and Jesse in it, along with Larry Fast on keyboards (Larry also played with Peter Gabriel early on).

I hung around after the end of the show (the cute redhead bailed though :( ) and ended up getting some time to chat with Tony, Jerry and others. Got Tony to sign the two live CD's I have from the Dortmund and Milan 2004 Peter Gabriel concerts that were also signed by Peter G. I said how sorry I was I didn't have a real copy of Double Espresso for Tony to sign, only a copy, and Tony chuckled and said "I don't care, I'll sign anything". I also got Jerry M. to sign some CDs, two PG CD's (Melt and Security) and my two TL CD's (Waters of Eden, Pieces of the Sun). Stupidly I let Tony get away without signing those, or my PG Tour T-shirt, but he looked tired and I didn't want to harass him.

Oh, I also took the time to meet Insane Shane. He's a decent guy, he's a proud man though and was still mad at the radio guys who tried to make fun of him. He said he'd called in and said he'd never do their show again unless they apologized, and that until them, his radio coverage had been positive. He really is serious about his work, I think, and didn't appreciate people taking the 'corniest' few moments from one of his songs and making it look like that was his entire catalogue...

More on the drive home (uneventful, really) later...

--R.

Joe Cocker, Casino Rama, 21 Feb 2005

Goddamn, he can sure still belt some serious music out.

But his hand twitches while he sings, I kinda ended up staring at it.

Drove up to Rama, had the prime rib, saw a great concert by a great performer, drove home, felt like a king. :)

--R.