Required listening (if it really happened)

DC radio has become so terrible that I listened to C-SPAN radio for a portion of my drive home tonight. Even though I can't find any proof on the C-SPAN website I swear that I listened to a Minor Candidate Republican Debate. It was fantastic. Way more interesting than any of the real presidential debates. Some highlights:

• The first candidate I heard was discussing states rights. He was approximately as well spoken as a ninth grade. I actually wondered why C-SPAN was airing a (bad) high school debate match.
• One of the candidates managed to dismiss both states rights and (whatever is the opposite of states rights) in the same answer. Say what you will about political double speak, but it is rare when a candidate nullifies his own answer in the same breath.
• Easily the best answer of the evening, and the reason for this post, was the Boy Scout answer. The candidates (there were maybe 8 of them) were asked what kind of people they would nominate to the Supreme Court. One of the candidates said he would only nominate a Boy Scout. Not a metaphorical Boy Scout, but a literal Boy Scout. It would seem that they are taught a moral code consistent with the legal philosophy espoused by this particular candidate.
  

Seriously. This is why "minor" candidates should get more coverage. Who wants to hear "real" candidates prattle on about judicial temperament when all that needs to be said is "Scout*."

* This is not at all intended to be a sleight towards Scouting. It is fully intended to be a sleight towards this particular politician.

Best music from 2007

Since I have 8 readers or so each day (I'm losing audience faster than most TV shows, and my writing staff isn't on strike), I feel like that is the appropriate number of albums to include in my first annual "8 best albums I bought this year." Unlike many other music lists I am including everything I purchased in 2007, whether it was released this year or not.

In no particular order:*

• Arcade Fire, Neon Bible: Best live act who isn't U2 or Springfield or Zeppelin
  
• Wilco, Sky Blue Sky: This convinced me to go and buy most of their older work, which I love
  
• The National, Boxer: Still not a great live act, but they put out great records.
  
• Okkervil River, Stage Names: My favorite find of the year.
  
• Jay-Z, American Gangster: At times the parallels to the movie are overdone, but whatever it takes to motivate Jigga to make good music again after the Kingdom Come fiasco.
  
• Nas, Illmatic: Yeah, I know, it was released in 1994 and is widely recognized as the greatest rap album of all time.
• Radiohead, In Rainbows: It feels weird not calling this my favorite album of the year. It's absolutely incredible music, but it sounds like it's been in my collection for a decade, which makes it hard to believe it came out last month.
  
• LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver: The only record where every track has stayed on my iPod shuffle all year long. I almost want to dance when listening. Almost.
  

That's actually 9. Deal with it. Others in the running: Kanye West (Graduation), Jose Gonzalez (In Our Nature), Caribou (Andorra), M.I.A. (Kala), Feist (The Reminder), Clinic (Visitations).

* Because I can't figure out how to make Blogger count down instead of up

Not all that deceiving, really

I decided to go driving last weekend. Ostensibly I wanted to get some highway miles on my car to see if there was some reason I was getting 12 mpg, but I also thought it would be fun to see what's north of Seattle. Each mile farther north I go becomes the farthest north I've been in North America. I ended up driving to Bellingham (home of Western Washington U), but it was too rainy to bother walking around to see if there was anything interesting to, um, see.

On my way back south I drove onto Fidalgo Island and Whidbey Island and to the bridge between them at Deception Pass. I had heard that it was a pretty neat setting. I think the pictures seem to validate that:

Here's my problem with Deception Pass: it really isn't very deceptive. Apparently it was so named because the narrow straight fooled people into thinking that Whidbey Island was really Whidbey Peninsula. Or because Deception Island blocked the view of the pass from the ocean and deceived people into thinking the pass was really a bay. Take a look at the island.


Are you confused? Why do idiots from the 1700s get to name everything just because they were first?

A ruined post

A couple of weekends ago I went to see the UW/Pitt basketball game. The UW arena is a nice little gym that reminds everyone of Cameron, only with no sense of history or awe. What was memorable about the game for me was that our seats were row 2, mid court. This is how the 2nd half started:

There's no zoom on that shot. They were just that close. It was pretty cool.

Anyways, the blog post is ruined because Pitt, after surviving a last second scare against UW, beat Duke tonight. During the game my friends (also Duke alums) and I observed that Pitt, while not great, is exactly the kind of team that would give Duke fits. They're big, slow, and rebound like crazy. Spurs vs. Suns.

I will give the UW fans some credit, as they made several "taser" cheers when the Pitt point guard shot free throws. It would seem he got tased, bro, this summer back in Pittsburgh. Taser or not, the guy is pretty clutch; he reminds me of Khalid El-Amin (fat, Duke-killer). He beat Duke on a crazy 3-pointer tonight, and made some tough free throws at the end of the UW game. I even had a picture of one:

Back on the horse

It probably isn't right to say that I'm 100% back, but I feel largely recovered from the little incident that happened a few weeks ago. My insurance company should be cutting me a check for most of my loss and I'm not afraid to walk past the scene of the crime at night any more (but I still cab back when necessary; my boss also is terrified that I might start riding the bus again).

Two things remain unresolved.

1. The HOA of the condo I live in gave me the bill for the locks on the front and back doors ($450!), along with the most stereotypically passive-aggressive email talking about how many residents were inconvenienced because they only got two free keys, and some people had collected more than two keys prior to the lock change. I declined to write a screed discussing the relative inconvenience of having a gun pointed at you while being relieved of nearly $1000 worth of stuff. I also declined to leave a steaming bag of poo on everyone's doorstep. Luckily my landlord is being cool and has told the HOA to shove it.
2. I've received lots of emails about whether I recovered the number of the girl I met prior to getting jacked. I did. Nothing to report, however, even if there were that stuff isn't going on the blog. Personal stuff and work stuff are for emails and phone calls. That said, I think my crazy officemate is leaving the company, and at that point I'll be able to share some fascinating stories. Not quite like the guy I worked with in Texas who torched his hotel and then torched our office, but close.

Breaking the silence

I don't know how professional bloggers do it. I guess the key is to have a topic to write about other than yourself, because even the most interesting person doesn't have that much stuff going on in their life to make a post a day. I really do try and keep a log of things that might make good blog posts. You know what the list was today before I erased it?

• I really like pomegranate juice
• Despite blogging about my love for baby carrots I've recently switched back to full size carrots
• I'm reading a 1000 page novel that has 300 end notes, and some of the end notes (ranging from 1 word to 6 pages) even have end notes. Unfortunately I will not finish it before traveling home for Christmas, so I'll have to take it with me. It makes me wish I had a Kindle.*

Seriously. That is AWFUL material. Which is why I haven't written anything. I've got some stuff that should get posted before I head back East on Saturday.

* Speaking of the Kindle, I actually got to play with one a few weeks before it launched. It really is godawful ugly compared to an iPod, but it's surprisingly ergonomic, and the screen is just great. If you have $400 and do a lot of traveling, I highly recommend.

It's not all rain. Just mostly rain.

This was my grill on Saturday afternoon. When it was all said and done there was probably an inch of accumulation on most surfaces downtown, with a lot more snow out in the burbs (which are hundreds of feet above Seattle).

Of course the snow melted pretty quickly and was replaced by an ungodly amount of rain. Like 10" in 24 hours within 20 miles of where I sit right now. They've closed I-5 for at least 3 days between Olympia and Portland. If this were a real part of the world, that would be like closing I-95 between Baltimore and Philadelphia. The Seattle Times has some really good photos (can't link directly, but you're smart, figure it out.)