Music notes:

- So I flipped through the album reviews section of the latest issue of Spin Magazine this morning. I was a bit sad. The only Artists reviewed that I had ever listened to before were Bruce Springsteen, Morrissey, and Lisa "Left eye" Lopez. I fear I am getting old and becoming out of touch.

- Apparently the Silver Jews are calling a quits. I would have thought that this news would affect me much more that it does. The Natural Bridge and American Water, are two of my favorite albums ever. 3 years ago, I drove 8 hours one way and through tornado spawning thunder storms to see them perform live in Wisconsin. But when I heard the news, I just sort of felt like shrugging. It was not all together surprising to me. I guess the Joos served their purpose for me 10 years ago and will always hold a special place in my heart, but I have grown away from them. The Joos, message has also changed in recent albums with Berman become a religious man. You might know that religion doesn't really do it for me. The final album "lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea," had some good tunes and turned a clever phrase to two, but I'd be surprised If I have listened to it more than 15 times in full. Anyway, I am grateful for the music they have given me and the world...it doesn't get much better in modern rock and roll than "Black and Brown Blues" or "Wild Kindness."

- I am kind of addicted to the Mountain Goats these days. They have been around along time, but I only just started listening to them in 2008. The album "We shall all be Healed" is the complete package and I can just listen to it over and over again. The music reminds me of Neutral Milk hotel but with choruses and hooks embedded in the songs. I think you should go listen to them...all five of you.

I like that most of the news coverage I've read and listened to in recent days has been positive stories about Barack Obama and his inauguration. The media has decided to just forget about the nightmare of W's presidency and think about the future rather than do a shit ton of retrospective stories about our national embarrassment.

Having said that I think this clip from David Letterman is pretty awesome:

I am a little weirded out by all the people from high school that have requested my friendship on Facebook. Don't these people remember what a self righteous asshole I was. I still am for the most part by the way. Today I got a request from one girl that I was just horrid to for a couple years. I still feel bad about it sometimes. It's cool and all to see what these people are up to 13 years later, I've even sought out some folks my self, but these random requests that take me a few minutes to figure out who they are...like I said its weird.

You know what else is weird...the spelling of the word weird.

In the final few weeks of the Bush administration I have been reading the TRUTH: with jokes, by Al Franken. I am really enjoying it as sort of a review of a terrible, despicable presidency full of lies and pandering and quite often criminal activity. It is Helping me not fall into that "W is like Truman" syndrome. All that is bullshit. In my book, Bush is more like Andrew Jackson, or perhaps U.S. Grant. Just for clarification neither were remotely good presidents. Just to demonstrate how uncertain and fearful I am about the future and the state of the world at the end of the Bush administration, in the last couple months I read Grapes of Wrath and I started learning how to hunt and shoot guns. Franken has a way with words too, and I'm often lol-ing -- as the kids say -- which is nice after reading Grapes of Wrath.

2009 -- Fuck yeah!

Here is a recap of my wild New Years Eve!!!

1) Stopped by the liquor store on my way home from work...WHOOHOO!!! I bought one bottle of red wine...Crazy, Yeah!

2) Fed and Bathed a toddler! There was splashing and everything!

3) Read Llama Llama Red Pajama out loud to a toddler, also read The Circus McGurkus (3 times...Fuck Yeah!), and recited Goodnight Moon without even looking at the words! I am crazy!

4) I cooked a Flank Steak!

5) I ate a portion of the flank steak that I cooked!

6) The Hot Librarian and I watched TWO episodes of Angel...not just any two, the final two. Whoohoo!

7) I went to the bathroom.

8) I washed the dishes from dinner!

9) We watched Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve for all of five minutes, but Kelly Pickler made us turn it off.

10) I Flossed and Brushed my teeth! Fuck Yeah!

11) I got into bed at 11pm and read Al Franken's book "Truth, with jokes" for about 45 minutes.

12) I was asleep before midnight!