Another random jumble of neurons firing

Incredibly busy these days. Nevertheless one must rant and muse, no? So I bring you the following collection of randomness.

Miz Becky thinks that my response to this article about student debt is a sign that I am a crabby old man before my time. Nevertheless I give you the excerpt that upset me. In the midst of an article about rising student debt and how hard it is to pay off loans or pay for college, we see this examination of young woman's expenses:

In her job at SU, Khachatourians takes home a paycheck of $1,600 a month after taxes. She keeps her rent and utilities at $450 by sharing a house in Ballard with three roommates. The payment for her 2003 Ford Focus is $355 a month, insuring it costs $190 a month. She goes grocery shopping once a month and tries to keep the bill around $100. Just making the minimum payment on her credit cards was costing her $150. Throw in the $300 loan payments, and her expenses totaled about $1,550.

Excuse me? Her car payments and insurance are more than either her rent or her loan payments? They're 34% of her salary? Damn, woman, get a *&#(*!!! used car!

</rant>

Random demographics I'd like to see:

How many people who drive hybrid cars are going to vote for Shrub/Cheney?

How many people who buy organic foods are going to do the same?

Today's lesson in getting stuff done: Lighting a fire. I recently had cause to use a technique I've learned here at Acme labs. In this case I had sent a tech support request to, well, let's say a company I do business with, since it seems like they're going to do right by me. A couple of weeks went by and I had heard nothing.

Now, I was incredibly busy (see pp.1) so I didn't really have time to follow up, but it still ticked me off. So yesterday morning at 7:44 our time (10:44 for them, since they're on the east coast) I sent them another e-mail, and cc:d their marketing director, who I had previously corresponded with. At 8:25am, my phone rang. And who was it? Why, their tech support guys. How nice.

Oh, the Tom Waits concert? Yeah, it pretty much kicked my ass. As Miz Becky told her sister last night, he's a performer who pours every ounce of energy and emotion he has into the shows. The thing that most amazed me was that nearly every song was completely re-imagined, completely different from the album version or other live versions I've heard. An example, for those of you who know the work: The album version of "November", from The Black Rider, is very spooky and atmospheric -- the melody is played on a saw. The version he did on Monday was almost an homage to Nina Simone, a sort of slow torch song, with Marc Ribot playing, well, let's say Spanish classical guitar in the background.

Good people watching, too. The number of guys in ratty porkpie hats and vintage suits or sweaters was astounding.

You know, I was sure there was something else, but it's gone. Time to bathe and head out the door into my day. Buon giorno!