1000 buffalo stampede

And such. For no other reason than a random update: I got several iTunes gift cards this season (thank you to everyone who so gifted me, of course), and I thought I’d report out some of my recent iTunes buys. In no particular order:

Battlestar Galactica: “Eye of Jupiter” (tv)
Supernatural: “In My Time of Dying” (tv)
The Rolling Stones: “Sticky Fingers”
Tom Waits: “iTunes Essentials: the Essential Tracks”
Oscar Peterson: “Night Train”
Charles Mingus: “Mingus Ah Um”
James Brown: “20 All Time Greatest Hits!”

So, there you go – some jazz, some rock, some tv, some soul, and some… Tom Waits (who pretty much defies classification) …

I should add – since the news is talking about how swamped the Apple iTunes Store servers got – that I encounters no problems whatsoever in redeeeming my gift certs or downloading my purchases.

Paul Hewson – that’s Bono, of the legendary U2 – has been knighted by the Queen.

Never thought I’d see the day. I’m fairly sure Bono never thought he’d see the day.

Congrats all around. I think they should knight the rest of the Band, though. U2’s a damn tight group.

Well, that’ll teach me to be upbeat about getting things done. What’s that the ancient Greeks used to say? “Call no man lucky until he’s dead“, I think it is (which, incidentally is probably my second favorite ancient Greek quote. The first being “Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad“. But I digress.

I’ve had a nasty cold the last three+ days – fortunately not the flu, but a nonetheless painful one anyway. Thinking’s been no so good, not to mention trouble sleeping, resting, or doing pretty much anything other than being miserable. Needless to say, it scrubbed two days of work and related plans.

All of which primes me to be a very grumpy person in general. Moreso than usual, I mean. It’s not like I’m not known for being, well, shall we say sarcastically grumbly. Which, of course, just makes me feel worse, because I do try (and frequently fail) to be a good, positive person. But throw in a headache and painful sinuses on top of stress, holiday schedules, and the rest, and I put E. Scrooge to shame.

All of which makes me want to crawl into a hole in the ground for the next few weeks and avoid ruining anyone else’s holiday season with my apparently uncontrollably dour spirits.

The first night and day in a new place is always a bit interesting, isn’t it? I’d say “fun”, but of course, that depends entirely on the new place and one’s feelings about it. Obviously, I’m considering my new place, in which I’m just beginning to settle.

I made sure I put my bed together (not especially difficult – it’s a six-piece wrought iron frame, and breaks down quickly). After a few hours at the Hanrahan’s for the Toys for Tots party, and I was frickin’ fat, dumb, happy, and sleepy. Incidentally, the toy was a baseball Bugs Bunny action figure (large scale). Hell, yes.

It’s been cold the past few days out here – like, close to New England cold. Supposedly, it’s going to be in the 20’s night. Again – California. Happily, the heat works just fine.

Today, I managed to bring over a little more stuff, rearrange the living room, and generally get more put together. Key victory: assembling my new (courtesy of AT&T) stereo. Other than that, the knee was bothering me (combination of the moving, stairs, and cold), so I opted to pass on bringing more books in from the old place.

Yes, I have that many books.

Today was moving day. I checked into my new place yesterday afternoon, and made a few trips with boxes of books and some other items. Today, though, was Moving Day. Fortunately, several friends came round at 10 am to help me get furniture and stuff out. A special thanks to Angelo and Monte, who not only came by at 8:30 am to help me pickup the moving truck, but pretty much captained the move. The truck was loaded to the gills by 11 am. Yes, in an hour. Unpacking it into the new place took half that, I think – if that. By 11:45 am, we were en route to lunch.

So, many thanks to Angelo, Monte, Ben, Adam, and Eric for the much needed assist.

And, yes, good beer and a big lunch was paid out as appropriate.