A bit of humor today, on the controversial subject of Gay Marriage: Massachusetts Supreme Court Orders All Citizens To Gay Marry.

Just did my first radio show on KTRU this morning. Here's my playlist.

You know what makes me upset? Creationists*. You know what makes me happy? The Creation Science Fair. Some entries:

"My Uncle Is A Man Named Steve (Not A Monkey)"

"Pine Cones Are Complicated"

"Rocks Can't Evolve, Where Did They Come From Mr. Darwin?" - Anna Reed (grade 6)

Brilliant. Big shout out to Cam for finding this and confirming that it is, in fact, a joke.

* For the record, I'm not talking about folks who think that a higher power is / may be at work behind the nature and meaning of the scientific laws that govern our universe. That's fine, I tend to agree. I'm talking about the folks (and there are plenty out there) that go to great lengths to say that Evolution is wrong and to promote "Intelligent Design" as an "alternate theory" in schools. The kind that are so clouded by anti-intellectualism that they can't grasp the basic fundamentals of the scientific method and think that a dogmatic anti-logic approach is somehow defensible instruction for kids. The kind who, when you try to talk about logic and rational scientific thought, stick their fingers in their ears and say "na na na, I can't hear you". I wish we didn't live in a world where that's even an issue, but we do.

"Does anything hurt you, Conan?"

"Only pain."

Ow. I've been working out a little bit lately at this place in my neighborhood. Yesterday I did weights, and I think I might have hurt my shoulder a bit. It hurts now when I lift my arm over my head. Is that bad? I'm sore all over, but everything is just soreness. My shoulder is actual pain.

At least I have some new shoes.

So, looks like this is the end for Dean's presidential bid. I guess it was the Iowa speech that really did him in - voters got so scared that he might melt down in the race against Bush and hand him a win that they bucked. That's understandable, but too bad.

I still think he would make the best president ever. Please! He's a compulsive recycler, a family doctor, a penny pincher and a proven success in the executive branch. He actually loves his wife and family, and isn't one of the nasty career politicians who will do anything to get elected. He hides candy in drawers of his offices cuz he's got a sweet tooth. My heart is aching for what could have been.

But the fact of the matter is, American democracy isn't well set up for that. Somebody who's quirky, smart, and real will always lose to someone who is more politically devious, more cut throat, and more "lowest common denominator". Dean lost to Kerry for the same reasons that he might have lost to Bush. That makes me sad, but that's life.

Well, I think Edwards is a pretty stand-up guy, from all I've heard (well, other than being a lawyer). Maybe he'll get the nod, or maybe the VP slot. I would much rather see him go up against Bush than Kerry, who is the biggest special interest hog the the left side of the aisle and voted the wrong way (or didn't vote) on everything that's important to me.

So, what's next? Well, there are 2 organizations (hopefully soon to be joined by Dean's new PAC) that I think are really making the voice of common sense heard in a big way today: MoveOn (2 million strong) and True Majority (headed by Ben from Ben & Jerry's). They harness the internet well, they stand up for stuff I agree with, and just like Dean's campaign, they're funded by small donations by tons of people.

Spent the better part of my free hours today (of which there weren't many) catching up with my email. Down from 250 inbox to 50 inbox. Schwing! In the process, though, I sent about 85 emails. Which means that tomorrow, my inbox will be hit with redoubled fury, thus casting me deeper into the vicious cycle of email.

Tonight I'm heading over to the Volcano for the weekly music business roundtable, with a special meeting tonight for bands interested in participating in the Houston booth at SxSW.

Man, I've just been cranking all day at work today. I actually pushed out a full application in a very short space of time - it's called the Recordable Accident Tracker, or RAT for short. Lets users at our branch offices punch in data about recordable accidents directly on our corporate intranet. Whee! And it generates reports! Yahoo!

OK, so my day job isn't very exciting. I'll take what small pleasure I can get in writing elegant code that solves problems for people, even if those problems do happen to originiate somewhere in dilbert land. But seriously - my new programming technique is unstoppable.

I've had a crappy day. I'm tired and I'm coming down with a cold or something.

But this made my day: The Moon Song.

Thanks, überjam. :)

Great new discovery today ... a weekly Prog rock radio show that's entirely archived on the web and available for download or streaming! It's on a radio station out of Milwaukee, WI. Mmm, prog rock.

You know, it's funny, with my recent musical compatriots I've been getting more and more bold about admitting my deep and adibing love for this dorkiest of music. But the other day at KTRU when I was doing my first technical training, I mentioned the idea of doing a prog show and the DJs coming in for the next shift looked at me like I was insane. They proceeded to play lots of Decemberists and Spoon and stuff like that, which I love as well. But it is a reminder: prog is not, in fact, for everyone.

Whew. So, I did it - I managed to wake up at 3:30 am and get over to KPFT, where I played with the New Jack Hippies. It wasn't too bad, I went to bed around 8pm. I guess I had better get used to it, since the KTRU slot I've been assigned is Mondays from 4-7am. Haha.

Yesterday, I also went over to Bungalow Studio in the heights and played on a session for the new album by the Buddhacrush. Tim (lead singer) and Mark (engineer) were very hospitable, and like I've said before, the sound they're getting over there at Bungalow is excellent. Can't wait to hear what the record sounds like when it's out. I heard some of the tracks I did over there with Plump, and they sound rad.

OK, so now it's Monday morning. Back to work. :-(

Last night I went over to the 1 year anniversary party for the Free Press Houston. It's a little indie paper published here in town. Similar to the Houston Press, but more indie, more concise, more political, etc. Good bunch of folks over there, including DJ CeePlus, M. Martin (from Earthwire.net), and a few other notables. It was a good time.

Tonight, on the other hand, I will be turning in EARLY. I'm trying to get used to the idea of starting a radio show at 4:00am on Mondays, so this week I'm going over to KPFT at that hour to jam with Guy Schwartz for his all night birthday jam. Gah.

So I finally dug überjam's old Palm Pilot out of the storage bin it was in (affectionately known as the "gadget graveyard") and hooked it up today. Brilliant! Totally works, and now I've got all of my business contacts synced up to it. The sync process is a bit cumbersome - it involves deleting the contacts out, exporting from the Excel sheet I keep them in to a text file, and then importing them. I'll probably only do that once a week, but that's sufficient to my needs - basically, I just need a way to keep from having to print my whole damn list out every couple weeks and carry it around with me. This way is more compact, more secure, searchable, and ... well ... cooler.

Now I'm looking into running the palm version of LifeBalance so I can have all my to-do items on there as well. That part should even be reverse-syncable. :)

Ah, it's been a wild few days. Gig in Tyler, gig at the Rhythm Room (listen), quiet Superbowl sunday (my Aquarium duo gig was cancelled, thank goodness - playing jazz standards while people are watching the Super Bowl would have been horrible. Especially when there are nipples involved.)

Tonight I have my first new DJ meeting for KTRU. I don't really know what to expect, but I'm thinking it's gonna be a lot of fun to do a radio show. Of course, I will have a graveyard shift. :( But you gotta pay your dues.

Thanks to everybody who has been commenting lately. I just upgraded my HaloScan account so I can get emails when comments are left. That'll be nice.