So after a day of flying, I *FINALLY* arrive at my home away from home in my “on the approved list” hotel. I hang up the shirts that require hanging up, I put the socks and undies in the drawer under the television, I throw the laundry bag on the couch, and I go to Target to pick up The Necessary Staples.
You know: caffeine. Cheez-its.
While I am there, I realize “dang it, I forgot my pajama pants again” and so picked up a pair of those and also a sweeet Hawaiian shirt that, seriously, has awesome texture (not silky at all… more of a thick cotton texture). Oooh, and the extra rich and creamy shaving cream that Maribou is allergic to.
And I find myself standing in the music section thinking “I’m going to be here for a month. Radio is a wasteland. I should buy a CD (or two) and listen to it. BUT!!! It has to be a good CD. Like, one of those CDs that you can keep in the player for a month *AND* it has to be a CD that I don’t yet own.”
And I realized that I had no idea what music was out there and new enough to be available at Target and something that I’d want to listen to for a month.
Nor, for that matter, am I aware of what I left at the Target that, seriously, I should have bought had I only remembered it… example: single-serving ice cream treats. I totally need one of those. To the point where I’m seriously considering putting pants on and going out and getting some.
In any case, that’s about as exciting as my weekends seem like they’re fixin’ to be for a while. If yours is likely to be about as exciting, here is your opportunity to tell me how to live: WHAT DO I NEED FROM TARGET WHEN I GO BACK ON SATURDAY????
So… what’s on your docket?
Get S1 of either Hannibal or The Americans (assuming you have a player to watch them on). If it’s Hannibal, def. spring for the Blu-ray.
Man, it has been a CRAP week. I took tomorrow off just because. Tomorrow I have to take the dog to the dentist(!), and maybe go deal with the city on some code stuff, and take some books back to the library, and get serious about house-hunting, and all the headache that entails.
Tonight: I may go get good and drunk.Report
Mobb Deep has a new album out. Dunno if it would be at Target, but if it is, it’s good.Report
There is a young alum picnic for my college on Saturday.
Other than that not much. More future planning.Report
“And I realized that I had no idea what music was out there and new enough to be available at Target and something that I’d want to listen to for a month.”
this may be the ultimate game show challenge.
probably a johnny cash greatest hits thing?Report
Also, there is such a thing as Pandora…Report
Soundcloud is where I tend to turn, but I suspect the different platforms have their strengths and weaknesses in different genres. Electronic music of various stripes is my preference.Report
I have come to rely pretty heavily on Spotify (though I agree lots of cool stuff can be found on Soundcloud. Never use Pandora myself). Unsurprisingly, Spotify has led me to quite a few purchases (I use it to preview stuff I am curious about).Report
Pandora has the benefit of being pretty much effortless once you’ve established stations (it’s work at the start of a new station), and it will inevitably give you new music.
Spotify is great for listening to whole albums once you’ve found an artist you think you might like.Report
After a few days of some really bad vaping, I finally had a good one today. I keep running into technical problems which are pretty excruciating.
Clancy has to commute for work for a rotation, so I’ll be spending more time taking care of the baby.Report
You’ll never find this at Target, but the very idea of buying music there made me think immediately of this Half Man Half Biscuit song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glB6ZJfrEzs
The relevant lyric is at 2:10, but the whole song is 3 minutes well spent.Report
I’m a bachelor since Natasha is going with some girlfriends for a weekend trip. So it’s porn and potato chips for me all weekend long.Report
Saturday is gaming and Sunday is… uh… *checks giant list of things she writes down so she doesn’t have to remember them* OH YEAH WRESTLEMANIA (the funny thing is – I didn’t even check the list, I just imagined looking at the list and then I remembered).
Also ALL OF THE CHORES.
ALL OF THE HOMEWORKS.
And a fair amount of “just happening” to stop by my workplace at times when my students who I know are having a rough time are working. Just so they know I love them.
I may or may not get very drunk tomorrow night.
(One of our students who worked in a different part of the building – not mine but someone I thought was space awesome, and who was a good friend to several students on my work team – killed herself last week. And yet, nonetheless, it’s annual review time.* And building planning time. And for dumb but evidence based reasons no one really wanted to even slow down, administration wise – the right words were said but we didn’t miss a single official day as far as the academic calendar is concerned, even though at a school of our size, almost every student is either grieving, taking care of dear ones who are grieving, or both. I also went to a memorial service last Friday for a wonderful prof – my own age – who died a few weeks ago. And I miss Jay. It’s been a rough week.)
***************
* weirdly, once I finished the agony of actually completing the thing (grading people! BAH! grading self! double bah!), the meeting part of my annual review was the easiest, even funnest, part of my week. i have an incredible boss, these days.Report
Oh my. I hope next week is a big improvement!Report
Thank you.Report
Maribou,
Sorry for your loss. Hard to go through that with Jaybird gone I am sure. Spouses are important in those situations. Hang in there!Report
So true, Mike. Thanks for the kind words.Report
I didn’t drink. I did have a surprisingly good day, although I am not quite sure how. 3 very good surprises helped.Report
Saturday, for eight hours, I’m talking.
More or less straight. I’m running a HamCram, where we go through the 395 questions in the question pool to pass the Technician’s Exam for an Amateur Radio License, one question at a time, and then at the end we throw you in front of a volunteer instructor and let you barf it all back.
If it works, you get your license.
I’m halfway through preparing my materials. I’m really tired of making slides.
I don’t want to volunteer for anything ever again. I hate people.
Ignore that last sentence.Report
I thought that Skype would have killed Ham.Report
“I thought that Skype would have killed Ham.”
No, but it did a-salt it.Report
I need a “Hiyo!” vine for the two of you.Report
I aspire to be the Waldorf to Mike’s Statler.
In this Slate piece about comedian custom w/r/t joke ownership:
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/features/2014/the_humor_code/joke_theft_can_a_comedian_sue_if_someone_steals_his_material.html
…I learned that if one guy comes up withe the setup, and a different guy comes up with the punch line, the setup guy is generally considered the joke’s “owner”. This was interesting and makes intuitive sense to me, but I am having trouble articulating why and its implications, and will be pondering it further.
(Along those lines, in retrospect it occurs to me that a ‘better’ one might have been “It tried, but Ham was cured.”)
(Also, if there’s any justice in the world, the guy who came up with “A guy walks into a bar…” must be living like royalty somewhere.)Report
Glyph,
it’s because the setup is harder.Report
This weekend, I have dueling far flung familial responsibilities.
I’m in OKC right now, helping out my sister who had shoulder surgery. As soon as I got here, though, my father-in-law was admitted to a hospital with what might end up being life-threatening issues. So I may have to pack up and head home early so that my wife can go be with her father.
Sometimes in life, everything all happens at the same time.Report
It does. I hope everything that can goes as smoothly as possible for you both, and your loved ones.Report
I’m sorry to hear about your loved ones’ health issues. I hope everyone starts feeling better soon!Report
Egads! Best to the family, safe travels to you and Knitting Niki, and best wishes especially for your father-in-law!Report
Tomorrow is Tabletop Day, so there will be gaming. Sunday is Wrestlemania!
I also need to figure out how to fit in mowing the lawn, getting a haircut, and my usual weekend chores into this weekend.Report
Yardwork. At last, our long Westeros winter is over, and I can rip out the weeds that invaded our front yard and reseed it for the third time in 5 years.Report
You know it’s coming again, right?Report
Yeah, but it’s not a good time to recite the family mantra. This was the hardest winter in over a century; people need a little distance before we remind them.Report
It’s supposed to by dry this weekend… and then rain again. Perhaps I will do some yard work. I will definitely be doing some spring cleaning at home. I will also dive back into online dating. Ugh, I don’t like dating; I like a guy, but he doesn’t like me, or he likes me, but I don’t like him. Is 27 too young to acquire a bunch of cats and cuddle up with my books?Report
Jaybird,
I know you bought the DS for gaming but what do you do for TV/movie entertainment when away from home? A friend of mine travels a lot for his job and is up in Canada frequently and he swears he couldn’t live without his Slingbox. The ability to access what is stored on the DVR seems pretty awesome. Do you have a tablet or laptop for streaming? Most TVs in hotel rooms have HDMI inputs now so you could stream movies from Netflix right into the TV in your room.Report
I did that! The problem is that the internet in the hotel is juuuust this side of almost good enough.
It’s perfect for text (yay us) but less perfect for television. But how long have we lived with less than perfect? I plan on finishing Orange Is The New Black while out here and maybe doing that Hannibal thing that Glyph is constantly harping on.Report
If you have Amazon Prime you can stream Hannibal S1 for free (never done it, so not sure about the streaming quality…)
A commenter on the AVClub recap from last night’s ep noted that Fuller is taking the show “completely, next-level bananas” this season.
I agree and approve.
It’s opera.
With viscera.Report
I am in Day 2 of a four-day weekend that I took to hang out with the wife and youngest daughter while they are on Spring Break. Day 1 involved rain all day so we stayed in the house and did some spring cleaning. I also squeezed in a two-hour nap which was wonderful.
This morning I got up early and ran errands. New wipers for the truck. Some lumber for a small project. A few groceries and I grabbed lunch for the gang. I think we’re going to a fish fry tonight (Catholics + Lent = Fish and beer) And I promised the youngest daughter we would see Captain America.
Saturday is for projects. I have several semi-fun ones to choose from so time management will be key in squeezing in as many as possible. I need to get out to the farm and do some post-storm cleanup but it’s going to be a muddy mess so I may give it a week. Sunday we have a birthday party for niece and nephew then tickets to see Billy Joel Sunday night.
Also prepping for a big move at work on Monday. I am starting my new management position which means a trip to the barber for a respectable haircut and (insert sobbing here) I need to shave off my beard. I have been given two weeks from the wife to try a mustache and hopefully I will look more like a young Ernest Hemingway instead of a 70s pornstar. I have dusted off all of my business casual clothes and (hooray) they all still fit. Lots of little tasks next week wrapping up the year-long project I was on and getting all my new management swag set up. New laptop, new phone, AmEx card, business cards to order and a new ID badge with the little M on it that means I have to act like a grownup now.Report
I am sorry your beard has to go. Congratulations on your promotion.Report
If we’re being honest, even young Hemingway looked like a 70s porn star with his mustache.
I say go for Selleck:
http://content7.flixster.com/photo/30/72/58/3072589_ori.jpgReport
Slightly off-topic, but worst book cover ever. This is for a modernization of an 11th-century Welsh folktale (one branch of the Mabinogion, which make it a cousin of Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain books), which has nothing in it that would make a maiden aunt blush.
Mike,
Yipe! That’s pretty bad!Report
I especially like the combination of Stonehenge and a guy with a porn ‘stache wearing a T-shirt.Report
Well, Stonehenge IS where a man’s a man, and the children dance to the pipes of Pan.Report
If it’s that Stonehenge, those people are really tiny.Report
Well, if you had your Xbox with you, I’d say that you should check out the XBLA version of Arkham Origins: Blackgate since you’re into the whole Batman-Arkham thing.Report
It was a 3DS game before it was a downloadable!
(I already got it! And it ain’t bad.)Report
Yeah, that’s why I know the ending to it since I figured that it was going to stay a 3DS game but I wanted to make sure you knew about it.
I figure that I’ll get it when my demo backlog hits three (Counting Magrunner, it’s at two.) or a sale happens.Report
I guess I should say what I’m doing besides telling you to check out the Blackgate demo.
Tonight, by coincidence, the guild is raiding an Op that I’m actually interested in as part of my wrapping Cognitus up.
Saturday: standard Xbox Live day. Borderlands 2.
Sunday: Wrestlemania.
Monday: Since wrestling is usually kinda naff after Wrestlemania, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. We’ll see if my theory on Cap being more interesting when the ending isn’t railroaded in comes true.Report
So far – reacquainted myself with how dreadful OEM installs of Windows are in the process of trying to get all the junk off one and turn it into an actually usable system; met an old friend and his partner for a very nice dinner; conversed with a confused and frightened elderly lady who was hiding next to our house when we got home (eventually someone who knew her arrived and took her home).
To come – some cleaning, a friend’s birthday party, the usual volunteer shift, more cleaning.Report