The little changes

First of possibly a number of messages about the slightly insane extended weekend we've just been through. We'll start with one of those dippy observations that strike you when you're in the middle of far more important things: the weirdest thing about traveling to Connecticut nowadays is that they still use seven-digit phone numbers. Half the times someone gave us a phone number (and we have exchanged a vast number of phone numbers in the past few days), they'd give seven digits and stop, leaving me with a perpetual case of, "Yes, but where's the rest of it?" Somewhere along the line, I got used to these ten-digit things we have here...

The little changes

First of possibly a number of messages about the slightly insane extended weekend we've just been through. We'll start with one of those dippy observations that strike you when you're in the middle of far more important things: the weirdest thing about traveling to Connecticut nowadays is that they still use seven-digit phone numbers. Half the times someone gave us a phone number (and we have exchanged a vast number of phone numbers in the past few days), they'd give seven digits and stop, leaving me with a perpetual case of, "Yes, but where's the rest of it?" Somewhere along the line, I got used to these ten-digit things we have here...

The Good Bits

Okay, let's start with the parts of the past week that haven't sucked, namely Wednesday and Thursday.

Wednesday was the delivery of the new sofa, which brings us yet closer to being finished furnishing the house. It's simple but comfy, and hopefully durable enough to survive the cats that we will eventually have. And unlike the old one, it's slipcovered, so that if it doesn't survive the cats we can do something about it. It does, however, leave us with a dangerously crowded living room, so the spare recliner needs to go away Real Soon Now. If you want a reasonably comfortable rose-colored rocker/recliner, talk to us. It's been used for a number of years, but it's in generally good shape. First come, first serve, where "come" is defined as "comes and takes the thing away".

Thursday evening was a trip to Passim's, to a concert that both ladysprite and chaiya had been encouraging us to go to, and I'm glad they did. The headliners were The Arrogant Worms, who I'm rather fond of but hadn't seen in concert before. They made only one mistake, which was having an opening act that was even funnier than they were.

ladysprite introduced us to Da Vinci's Notebook a couple of years ago, and I immediately got their albums -- they were a ton of fun. Unfortunately, they broke up not long after that. What I hadn't twigged was that two of them, Paul and Storm, had gone off and formed a duet of their own, and they turn out to be just as good as vintage DVN. From their first song (the aptly-named "We Are the Opening Band") on, their set was brilliant. This was geek humor at its best, and these guys were playing for their tribe. If there is any justice, they'll move back to headline status themselves soon.

Anyway, the Worms concert was also excellent, suffering only in comparison to Paul and Storm's chokingly funny parodies of Randy Newman show tunes and Schoolhouse Rock songs for the modern age. Actually, I think the Worms just needed some warmup time -- their second set struck me as funnier and more solid than the first. Overall, a fine evening of great music.

We are, however, going to have to remember just how crowded Passim's gets when there is a good show. Getting into or out of our table seats was an exercise in contortion, so we didn't move much. That said, it did make for a high-energy environment, which suited both groups well. The food isn't bad, but the blonde pizza is way too bland; I'll have to try something else next time.

The Good Bits

Okay, let's start with the parts of the past week that haven't sucked, namely Wednesday and Thursday.

Wednesday was the delivery of the new sofa, which brings us yet closer to being finished furnishing the house. It's simple but comfy, and hopefully durable enough to survive the cats that we will eventually have. And unlike the old one, it's slipcovered, so that if it doesn't survive the cats we can do something about it. It does, however, leave us with a dangerously crowded living room, so the spare recliner needs to go away Real Soon Now. If you want a reasonably comfortable rose-colored rocker/recliner, talk to us. It's been used for a number of years, but it's in generally good shape. First come, first serve, where "come" is defined as "comes and takes the thing away".

Thursday evening was a trip to Passim's, to a concert that both ladysprite and chaiya had been encouraging us to go to, and I'm glad they did. The headliners were The Arrogant Worms, who I'm rather fond of but hadn't seen in concert before. They made only one mistake, which was having an opening act that was even funnier than they were.

ladysprite introduced us to Da Vinci's Notebook a couple of years ago, and I immediately got their albums -- they were a ton of fun. Unfortunately, they broke up not long after that. What I hadn't twigged was that two of them, Paul and Storm, had gone off and formed a duet of their own, and they turn out to be just as good as vintage DVN. From their first song (the aptly-named "We Are the Opening Band") on, their set was brilliant. This was geek humor at its best, and these guys were playing for their tribe. If there is any justice, they'll move back to headline status themselves soon.

Anyway, the Worms concert was also excellent, suffering only in comparison to Paul and Storm's chokingly funny parodies of Randy Newman show tunes and Schoolhouse Rock songs for the modern age. Actually, I think the Worms just needed some warmup time -- their second set struck me as funnier and more solid than the first. Overall, a fine evening of great music.

We are, however, going to have to remember just how crowded Passim's gets when there is a good show. Getting into or out of our table seats was an exercise in contortion, so we didn't move much. That said, it did make for a high-energy environment, which suited both groups well. The food isn't bad, but the blonde pizza is way too bland; I'll have to try something else next time.

The Less-Good Bits

Friday started as a fairly ordinary day; I was expecting to dive into a dull week of regression testing at work. That lasted less than an hour before I got the call from msmemory: her mother had just died.
( The weekend -- long )

The Less-Good Bits

Friday started as a fairly ordinary day; I was expecting to dive into a dull week of regression testing at work. That lasted less than an hour before I got the call from msmemory: her mother had just died.
( The weekend -- long )