Project Mayhem

but not THAT "Project Mayhem"

I'm piloting a new database that I've spent the last..... 6 months or so creating here at work. This week is the first time a team is using it exclusively and powering through error messages, drive mapping problems, workflow procedures, etc. Its going about as well as I could have hoped, being that I'm not a contractor, I don't do this for a living, and projects of this scale are usually handled by entire teams of Project Management Analysts, IT Specialists, and a Project Lead. I'm just one guy. So - no - its not going perfectly. But its also not going Chernobyl on my just yet. So I guess things could be a lot worse.

Song for the day: "Communication Breakdown - Led Zeppelin"

Blatently Bought

Apparently Rep. Joe Barton of Texas (where else?) thinks BP should be able to declare bankruptcy and not owe a dime to the Gulf citizens whose lives they've upended.

I don't need to look into any databases or registers to see that Barton's pockets are oily. There's being conservative and then there's being disgraceful. You suck Barton. I hope someone hides crude oil in your next burger.

Stop This Train...

This has been the first year of my life where I've actually felt 'old.' I realize that "old" is a relative term, but what I'm talking about is that for the first time that I can recall - I'm not shrugging off notable benchmarks. When I turned 25, it was easy to think "25 isn't really all that old, its only a few years out of college," and while it is a quarter of a century - it was easy to still feel "young." 26 didn't really bother me either. That's just an example. There's all kinds of things that you don't dwell on simply because of your perspective. Maybe that's it. Maybe my perspective has finally changed.

If I'm being honest with myself, part of it probably has to do with the fact that I've been alone for so long, and I'm starting to get the beginnings of 'The Fear.' Obviously people much older than me have worked things out and settled down, but just the fact that that thought even crosses my mind is new to me. The other part of it is just that I'm having trouble rationalizing the standard benchmarks anymore. I can't find any wiggle room to make myself still think, "I'm still pretty young." The fact that I'm even TRYING to rationalize seems like evidence to the contrary.

The most recent event that triggered the "ugh - I'm really not that young anymore" feeling was my niece friend-ing me on Facebook yesterday. It seems like I held this tiny wrinkly baby not all that long ago. Now she's a tall teenager updating her Facebook relationship status (single, thank god) and posting on people I know's walls. That sort of forced me to shift my perspective a little. For example, I really don't see her parents any differently than I did when she was born. They don't seem or act or look that much older than they did then. I deluded myself the same way - thinking that I'm not that much older either.

But I am. I said to someone this week, "I'll be 27 this year." And as soon as I'd said it, I felt heavier. 27 seems like its on the downhill side of your 20s. (Again - this is all relative. I don't look at either of my brothers or my sister-in-law and see any of them as "old" even though they're in their 30s.) 27 just has some kind of intrinsic property that resists rationalizing it as still being young. 26 was a stretch, but 27 isn't bending to my will the same way. I'm okay, though. I'm not all that concerned with feeling young anymore. What's the point? Why did I think that was a good thing to be? I have new benchmarks for myself, and while they might seems thousands of miles away (literally and figuratively) - just the idea of being okay with where I am as I am is apparently a constant struggle for all ages. And I need to learn to deal with that.

So here's to growing up. And to the flexibility of your own perspective.

--------------------------------------------------------------
"had a talk with my old man - said 'help me understand'
he said turn 68 - you'll renegotiate...
don't stop this train, don't for the minute change the place you're in
and don't think I couldn't ever understand, I tried my hand
John, honestly, we're never gonna stop this train..."

Bio Playlist - Disc Two

Disc Two:

1. Roboflow - Pomeroy: I still think "P-O-M-E-R-O-Y" when I type that. Pomeroy was a band from KC that played a lot in Omaha when I was in High School. They were a GREAT live show, and Matt Marone was one of the first guitarists that I saw live and thought, "jesus, I'm never gonna be that good." These guys, Grasshopper Takeover, Mandown - they all played at the Ranch Bowl a lot and we almost never missed a show. Late night stops at Taco Bell after the show and the red eyed drive home from Omaha... good times. The eskimo pie does, in fact, hit you right between the eyes.
2. Fake White Van - Short of 1st: This band featured my best friend's sister's future husband as a lead singer and songwriter. I bought the CD without really listening to it as a gesture, but then I put it in and.... I still listen to this album. I only got to see one show, but it was effing phenomenal. "there must be a million words to say to make sense of right now, and I can't even buy a vowel..."
3. American Girl - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: Another song that got a lot of playtime on gravel roads with the Imogene crew. And at The Dead End - our high school party house. Classic.
4. Promise - Eve 6: I'd be lying if I said I wasn't into this kind of pop/rock ballad. Same goes for....
5. Graduate - Third Eye Blind: Man, this album was nothing but radio hits.
6. Woke up in a Car - Something Corporate: I got this song on a mix cd from a girl I worked at Hy-Vee with who turned out to be the only girl that I think I've ever truly been in love with. Aside from being a great song/band - this girl and her taste in music transformed my entire appetite for music for the rest of my life. So even though its a little bittersweet, it has to be on this playlist. It was really the turning point in my life from radio music and "Wal-Mart rock" to indie music.
7. Pardon Me (acoustic) - Incubus: This was the first song I ever learned how to play on the guitar. It was my senior year of high school and I was visiting friends at Iowa State and learned how to play this song on my friend Tom's guitar - upside down and backwards. I realized two things that day: That I wanted to learn to play guitar, and that I would learn to play right-handed.
8. Garden Grove - Sublime: I got into Sublime more after I got to college. I always knew What I Got and a few others from Jake, but the rest of the self-titled album really grew on me my freshman year.
9. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - Police: I'm still into the sappy ballads. That much hasn't changed over the years.
10. Love Soon - John Mayer: This song got me into John Mayer, and he later became my guitar hero. But at this point he was just a killer acoustic singer/songwriter. The songs are fun to play (crazy chord voicings and percussive strumming) and the songwriting is pretty dang good.
11. F-Stop Blues - Jack Johnson: Jack Johnson was also some of the first music I learned to play. His voice is in my range, too... I listened to this song a lot on campus going to and from classes.
12. Stealing Happy Hours - 311: I also got into... this... in college, and this song stood out to me because of the cool guitar Tim is playing over everything. It made me want a delay pedal. The solo @ 3:49 is also one of my favorite 311 solos - Jazzy and melodic, it showed off how good Tim Mahoney was.
13. Nice To Know You - Incubus: Incubus' guitarist Mike Enzinger was a huge influence on my guitar playing. The effects that he pulled off on one guitar are insane. The volume swells and atmospheric sounds in this song are a great example of where some my own tricks come from.
14. Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground - The White Stripes: Jack White has become my newest guitar idol. The crunch of this songs chorus and the howling feedback of his overdubbed 2nd guitar are just too awesome. The song is so simple, but rocks so hard. Listen to the feedback at 1:56! Man. That's bad ass.
    
15. The Ocean - Led Zeppelin: I got into Led Zeppelin later than I probably should have. Still, once I had an electric guitar, the next pilgrimage you have to make is to learn some Zeppelin. This song shows off the hard rock riffs in the beginning and the jazzyness Page was capable of in the outro.
16. Wait Till Tomorrow - John Mayer Trio: I had realized that JM was a great electric guitarist during "Heavier Things" but this live album with his blues trio made me (and plenty others) realize that he was a modern guitar god. This song is a Jimi Hendrix cover and it shows in his playing. Its just a great pop song up until 2:57 - then John starts melting your fucking face off.
17. The Mixed Tape - Jack's Mannequin: This is the same guy from Something Corporate and I associate it with a lot of the same things. This song has got me through good times in that relationship as well as the heart wrenching parts of it too. I've made quite a few mixed tapes of my own and the sentiment that Andy depicts is just right on. The piano break at 1:40 made me want to learn piano again. Andy MacMahon is effing great.
18. The District Sleeps Alone Tonight - The Postal Service: Another genre-enlightening track. I've been into electronica ever since.
19. Atoms - Cashes Rivers: This needed to be on here as its what all these other songs eventually got rolled up into. Listen to my part - you can hear a ton of my influences. Minor Pentatonic blues riffs in the verse solo... The volume swells from Incubus in the chorus and bridge... maybe I shouldn't point that stuff out, ha.
    

Bio Playlist - Disc One

Disc One:

1. Paperback Writer - The Beatles: I remember the Beatles being played very early on in my life... Honestly, there are dozens of Beatles tunes that could have made this list, but when I think about my childhood this one always pops into my head first. Why? Well, when I was super young, I thought he was saying "Paper back Rider." Like it was some kind of horse riding. There's bare-back riding, and there's paper-back riding. It makes perfect sense to a 6 year old, okay? Anyways. The opening riff is still bad ass today.
   
2. The Rainbow Connection - Kermit the Frog: This could be one of the earliest songs that I remember. I don't know if its a cover or what, but its a great song.
   
3. You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon: This song was played a lot by our mom growing up, too. There was a lot of Simon and Garfunkel, but just the era that I grew up was when Paul Simon was on his own again and this song was my personal favorite.
   
4. Oh What a Night - Four Seasons: Another tune with a lot of plays by mia madre. It also happened to be my senior prom theme.
5. Roll On (Eighteen Wheeler) - Alabama: I'm not sure if this came from mom or Eron. Either way, this is a fantastic song. Its a bit long, but listen to the whole thing and listen to the words. I dare you not to tear up at the last verse. Try it. I'll bet you can't do it. I cried at Panera Bread this weekend listening to it. "Roll On, Daddy, till you get back home"
6. He Ain't Heavy - The Hollies: You can't have brothers like mine and not love this song.
7. Dance, Dance, Dance - Steve Miller Band: The Greatest Hits 1974-1978 album could be one of the best albums ever. I didn't realize it at the time, but Steve Miller is a pretty cool guitarist. He did the reverse headstock strat before Stevie Ray Vaughan. Great songwriter, too. This one made the list because of the play it got growing up. "Pick on!"
8. Renegade - Styx: I remember sitting in my brothers' rooms listening to this song. That and REO Speedwagon, Whitesnake, and Guns n' Roses. Oh, the 80s.
   
9. To Be With You - Mr. Big: Ha, I remember singing this at a birthday party with a bunch of other people. We thought we were cool. Psh, the girls loved it.
10. The Ghost of Tom Joad - Rage Against The Machine: This song came from a compilation album that Jake had for a benefit of some kind or another. I remember thinking that this song was just too bad ass for me to wrap my head around. "No job, no home, no peace, no rest.... NO REST! UGH!" or "sleepin on a pillow of solid rock, bathin in the city's aquaducts.... ROCK!" Its a cover of a Bruce Springsteen song, believe it or not. Tom Joad is a character from The Grapes of Wrath, and the main quote/lyric is something he says at the end of the book before he has to leave the broken remains of his family. (Ma)"but Tom where will you go?" (Tom)"I'll be all around in the dark - I'll be everywhere. Wherever you can look - wherever there's a fight, so hungry people can eat, I'll be there. Wherever there's a cop beatin' up a guy, I'll be there."
    
11. Basket Case - Green Day: Another song that I remember listening to in Jake's room. It was my first illicit taste of punk rock. Mom didn't like me seeing the album cover. (the name of the album is Dookie) There were so many good songs on that album, I think I even may have "borrowed" (read: stolen) that CD from him. I still have it, if you want it back, man.
    
12. Thunderstruck - AC/DC: The black album was in the weightroom all through highschool and since there were only about 4 CDs in there that worked, we got to hear it a lot. Thunderstruck was the first track so since I was usually one of the first ones there, I associate it pretty strongly with waking up and working out in HS.
    
13. All Mixed Up - 311: Obviously 311 weighs huge on my musical roots, but this song in particular was on the radio a lot. Summer in the Omaha area = 311 on the radio with the windows down.
14. American Music - Violent Femmes: Ha, this song still makes me laugh. My circle of friends in HS listened to this album quite a bit. I asked Beth to the prom via this song, ha. We were already dating, but still. And like the lyrics, everytime I think of this ugly song, it reminds me of them.
15. Mable - Goldfinger: Oh, 89.7. Used to be the best radio station ever. This got a lot of play, and the memory that stands out for me was my friend A. Dreyer changing the lyrics to, "I gotta say that Mable - she's my dog." (He had a dog named Mable) Rabies didn't get his dog, though.
16. Pure Morning - Placebo: One of the first songs I ever downloaded with Napster. Man, listen to that opening riff and drum fill! So simple, but it just sound hot and sweaty. I associate this one with driving out to a friends pool on hot summer days.
    
17. Forgotten - Linkin Park: Jake got Hybrid Theory and I pretty much instantly ripped it to my computer. Rock guitar with hip hop lyrics? Yes please. "Hoo-wah!"
18. Shine All the Time - Blue Moon Ghetto: I've yet to meet anyone who has heard of this song from outside the Doyle, Castle, and SW Iowa crew. But man, it blew my mind and we played the hell out of this song. They might have been a local band.
    
19. Sheep Go to Heaven - Cake: That same crew got me into Cake. Really it was Becky and Beth. This got yelled a lot driving down gravel roads in shitty cars. A great example that songs dont need to make a lick of sense to be good.

End of Disc One.