Madness Factor

Since it’s that time of year, I thought I’d pass on a bit of a bit of holiday cheer by sharing the following video of GWB “singing” John Lennon’s Happy Christmas.

And for more uplifting mashery, check out GWB covering Imagine over at Wax Audio.

Imagine indeed. One can only hope there are better things in store for 2008. Sigh.

Yes, yes, I took a hiatus. A very long one. Don’t have a good reason. Been settling in to the new house and all that. Plus, I’ve been busy with my work… You know the story.

I am thoroughly enjoying my first, honest-to-goodness Vermont snowstorm in 14 years. (And our area saw some spectacular autumn colors this season, too.) Inches and inches of fluffy white powder everywhere. And it snowed for ages. I’m really home.

Can’t say the husband is quite as thrilled with the wintery weather, but he’s getting there…. By the end of the day, he was marveling at the amount of snow we got, and romping in it with the dog.

While we were enjoying the white stuff here, Seattle was experiencing biblical rains. Major flooding, power outages, downed trees…you name it. Makes me glad I’m here.

“As the raptor explores his skates I will dribble the Prell…”

I don’t even know who the hell AFI are–I realize that probably dates me–but this video made me laugh. (Via MeFi)

_{I will get to that story about moving across the country, and moving into our “new” house…soon.}

As promised, here is the list of Things I Won’t Miss About Seattle… Or, more accurately, Things I Don’t Miss About Seattle. (For balance, please see the list, Things I Miss About Seattle.) Over the next few posts after this, I will attempt to recap our travels east, and tell the tale of moving into our old farmhouse after having it bought it sight unseen.

But now, without further ado…

Things I Don’t Miss About Seattle

• Traffic: I don’t know if I really need to elaborate on this, but suffice it to say, traffic in Seattle simply sucks. Some days I would decide not to go anywhere just because the prospect of creeping along roads—with signs depicting speed limits that almost taunted me along the way—only to arrive at my destination to discover absolutely no parking, well, just didn’t seem like a good one. (I’m not averse to public transportation, either, but sadly, public transportation in Seattle leaves MUCH to be desired. Unless you really like spending LOTS of time on a bus. That’s why I voted for the monorail—see below.)
• Seattitude: You know that air of condescension and the hipper-than-thou-attitude oozing from certain music store clerks? Well, imagine that pervading popular coffeeshops, clubs, barbershops, the alternative press, and even entire neighborhoods. It’s like these places were populated by carbon copies of Jack Black’s character in High Fidelity, but without the funny.

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Okay, yes. It’s been ages. But I’ve had a lot going on, ya know? First there was the move 3000 miles across the country. Then there was that month in our grotty flip house (yes, that’s flip, not flop, though there were times I couldn’t be sure), where we slept on an airbed just inches above manky old carpet, which, incidentally, covered the floors throughout the entire house, including the kitchen and bathrooms. And finally, there was the subsequent move into our 200 year-old farmhouse, which we saw for the very first time the day we closed on it. Since we arrived in Vermont, I’ve been working, too. So I’ve been kinda busy.

But I’ll start at the beginning…or at least where I left off. I never delivered the Things I’ll Miss About Seattle and Things I Won’t Miss About Seattle posts, so I’ll start there. Well, I’ll start with Things I Will Miss…or Do Miss. Whatever. Editor’s note: I began writing this list before I left, so I’ve edited the future tense out of the older parts (but I’ve left in edit marks so you can see what’s been changed). And please be aware, this list is far from being comprehensive.

So here goes… Read more »