VAGUE SPACE

California

Pics from my vacation because it's too lame to post them on Facebook.  Yes I'm aware that this live-links from Facebook.  But you still have to click...

View from the Pier back to the shore at Huntington Beach

 

Los Angeles

Ok I know I promised more posts after the whole moving thing but here's what happened last week.

Monday and Tuesday moving.
Wednesday I worked all day then walked to the nearest bar in Hoboken for a drink but it was packed. Then another bar that was packed. Then I finally found a place to have a drink (or two) then I came home and passed out. I still haven't unpacked.
Thursday I worked until 10 pm because I have a report to present tomorrow. It was killing me not o go drinking
Friday I "finished" the report then went via train to see the Bernard lakes at the Bowery ballroom who kind of sucked but I didn't need to drive into the city !!!
Saturday was just madness and if you follow me on Facebook you've seen the drunken pics
Sunday I finally got the new place a bit in order. Met the landlords because the dryer isn't workings and they were very nice. Damn is this place way too classy for me. Then I had to work to finish my report and then took the train to Brooklyn which got stuck under the river. Seriously. And I had to practically sprint on the bad foot to the concert. But I made it on time. And I saw spencer !!!! Spencer !!! His solo piano show which was only his 4th ever solo show he said. And it was awesome of course though maybe he could use more of a backing sound. He said he recorded an album but didn't like it so he re recorded it and it should be out in the fall on jagjaguwar. The songs are really really good.

But anyway got back home after midnight woke up packed and now I'm at Newark airport about to fly to LA. I have 2 days in chino for work then I'm spending 4 days in Los Angeles for fun so yeah. It's been a hectic time. Probably no posts this week. Maybe a recap of the debauchery in Cali will commence (assuming Jackie doesn't post it all on Facebook ). Oh well. Sorry again to my readers. Enjoy your weeks

Moving Day

Today I'm moving from the house where I've lived for almost 13 years and the town that I've lived for 15 years to a city, for the first time since I briefly lived in New Brunswick, which isn't much of a city compared to where I'm moving to.  It's been a long time coming.  My original plans to sell this house are going on nearly 3 years now and my plans to move to this particular location have been formed for at least 18 months.  But I had all the terrible toe/foot problems that left me unable to function, then I needed to fix up the house to sell it, then I needed to sell it, then I got an offer and accepted and things went into this unrelenting hell of inertia of lawyers and home inspections and bank mortgages and all kinds of crap that came to an end all at once, last Friday, and I had to move in 10 days.  So yeah, it's been about as crazy insane of a past 10 days as I've ever been through, but I'm through it, or all except for the actual moving part, which hopefully the movers can handle without a ton of effort from me and at some point tonight or maybe tomorrow I will be relaxing at my new place.  Anyway, this is why I haven't posted in forever and why my posts have been so sporadic this year -- well this is part of the reason -- but I hope to get back into posting again soon, especially since I will be a lot closer to a lot more concerts in my new location.  And where is it that I'm moving to?  Well it's the home town of a certain band that is one of my all-time favorites.  And this is one of my all-time favorite songs.

• Download Yo La Tengo - "The Story Of Yo La Tango".mp3

We stared at the sun, too long
until the shapes before our eyes
turned into the sun, in our eyes
We lied to ourselves for awhile
in our usual style
I wish we could lie
To ourselves again

We made up our minds 
to lose and never once looked back
We only looked back
just once
We opened our hearts, it's true
But not to any of you
Sold out of the myth
too soon

And we tried, we tried with all our might
We tore the playhouse down
We ran headlong in our way
We tried so hard

We stared at the road ahead
Closed our eyes and then
sped up to the turn, around the bend
With nothing to lose, we lost
Suffered every cost
It still causes pain to calm

And we tried, we tried with all our might
We tore the playhouse down
We ran headlong in our way
We tried so hard

Refused to let go
of the air
There was something there
Sparks foam with gold
A million strong
and match forever lights in a row
I'm still flushed from the glow
I'm down on the road
back home
We stared at the sun, too long
until the shapes before our eyes turned back into the sun, into the sun in our eyes
We lied to ourselves for awhile
in our usual style
Now I wish we could ride, we wish we could lie to ourselves again
And we tried, we tried, we tried with all our might
we tore the playhouse down
We ran headlong, headlong in our way...
we tried so hard...
we tried so hard...
yeah we tried so hard...

 

Timeline to Ice Storms, Or Why I Hate My Job Sometimes, Or Why Sometimes is Probably A Misnomer

10:20 AM  Sitting in the client's office doing diligent work as always, I get a message from US Air that my flight from Huntsville, AL (yes, that's Alabama) to Charlotte is being delayed.  This puts my connection to Newark in jeopardy.  So I immediately phone US Air where a nice woman explains to me that I can go on the later flight from Charlotte to Newark, or get on an earlier flight but that the earlier flight leaves at 1 PM.  Since I have a rather important meeting with the client scheduled at 1, I have to take a later connection in Charlotte, which will get me into Newark 2 hours later than I'd hoped to be home on a Friday night after spending a week in Alabama.  Good times.

11:20 AM  Walking through the warehouse, I hear my phone ring and it's US Air, telling me that my original flight from Huntsville has been cancelled.  Gone.  Kaputt.  Plane disappeared over Atlantis or something.  I call immediately from the warehouse and am informed that I've been automatically rebooked onto a 7 PM flight to Charlotte which will get me into Newark right around midnight, or 4 hours later than I had hoped to be home on a Friday night after spending a week in Alabama. Or, when left when no other options, good times.

3:30 PM  I leave the client 2 hours later than I'd planned and start driving to the airport... or to the nearest bar where I can grab some food after not having eaten since "breakfast" (a granola bar at 7 am) and some drinks for my flight, not sure what I'll find in the Huntsville airport.  Stop at an upscale Mexican restaurant in the upscale Bridge Street shopping center (next to the PF Chang's) and order a mahi-mahi soft taco along with a few Dos Equis Ambers in nice chilled glasses.  I didn't much care for the taco (too much cilantro) but the beers were nice and cold.  And they lessened my anger at seeing my 7 pm flight get delayed first to 7:30 then to 8 PM, putting my connection in Charlotte -- the last flight out of Charlotte to Newark -- in extreme jeopardy again.

Dan Mangan and Me

My house is for sale, it went on the market last week, and I'm planning to move to Hoboken once it sells, going from a homeowner with a low mortgage to a renter in one of the toughest markets for renting in NJ, which makes pretty much zero economic sense and which several of my friends would prefer me not to do, since I'll be further from them and perhaps starting a new or different life, away from the suburban New Jersey experience I've lived the past 12 years in this house, or in reality, my entire life.  When I thought about selling my house last summer, sparked by an odd demand by my homeowners' association that I forget now but also because I'd been working from home for a while and had suffered my initial foot injury that left me somewhat incapacitated and therefore home all day almost every day and I began to hate my house, hate this home that I've now lived in for 12 years but when I began thinking about a move, my initial search was in the very same town I live in, just in a larger house with a larger yard and more rooms I guess that wouldn't bore me like I'd become bored last summer being stuck in my kitchen working all day and stuck at home with the foot sprawled out at night.  I really do like my town, I have no real problems with my neighbors (despite my complaints to my friends) and like I said, I've lived in NJ suburbia all my life (other than a couple years in New Brunswick in college, if you can call that a "city"), and I've enjoyed it very much.  But I came to realize during my initial search for a new house last summer (or at least the idea of a search) that what I really wanted, what I really was itching for, could not be found in South Brunswick.  Or any suburb, really.

Let My People Vote

Sarah Silverman on the GOP-fueled voter suppression laws that have passed this very year in pretty much any state that has a Republican legislature and governor.  Because conservatives are nothing if not all about FREEDOM!  (you know, except the whole right to vote thing which is, you know, kind of the basis of Democracy).  Scumbags.

 

Another Wave Coming

 

Elizabeth Warren for Massachusetts Senate

Democrats have been blessed with tremendous poll numbers since their convention -- not just for President Obama but also for down-ballot candidates for Senate or Congress.  In fact, it's gone so well that there are rumblings of, knock-on-wood, a fourth straight "wave" election where one party dominates, presumably out of disgust for the opposite party, and good men and women on the losing side get thrown right out along with the rest of their party.  In 2006 and 2008, the Democratic party won wave elections.  In 2010, the tide turned the other way in a brutal fashion, ushering in far-right extremists -- I mean, Republican party members -- to both houses of Congress.  Now, 2 years later, despite a still-struggling economy, apparently somehow the message has reached the masses that yes indeed the things we've been saying for 2 years about the GOP existing solely to stop any government action on anything whatsoever, which actively hurts voters' lives in so many ways, well it seems that message is coming through.  Or it could just be that the Republicans have nominated the worst ever presidential candidate in history and Romney's repeated inability to say or do anything to help his cause is hurting the entire ticket.  Either way, this was good to read...

 

FiveThirtyEight Forecast: 

Democrats are now favored to retain control of the Senate when the new Congress convenes in January, according to the FiveThirtyEight forecast, breaking a summer stalemate during which control of the chamber appeared about equally likely to go either way.

An unusually large number of Senate races remain competitive, meaning that a wide range of outcomes are still possible. Republicans have about a 10 percent chance of winning a net of at least six seats from Democrats, according to the forecast, which would give them control of at least 53 seats next year. However, there is also about a 20 percent chance that Democrats could actually gain Senate seats on balance, giving them at least 54. The only thing that seems completely assured is that neither party will control enough seats next year to hold a filibuster-proof majority.

But the odds of a favorable overall outcome for Democrats have increased in recent weeks. The forecast model now gives them a 70 percent chance of controlling the chamber, either by having at least 50 seats and the presidency, or 51 without it.

Although this represents the first official FiveThirtyEight forecast for the Senate this year, I ran backdated forecasts to July 1 based on the polls that were available at that time. Two weeks ago, for example, the model would have given Democrats a 52 percent chance of retaining Senate control — and four weeks ago, it would have given them a 39 percent chance.

The trend toward Democrats is a relatively recent one. Part of the shift may reflect the bounce President Obama received from the Democratic convention. If so, it could recede, especially if Mr. Obama’s poll numbers do so, too.

But our analysis also suggests that the Democratic advantage has probably been building over the past few weeks, and may not have any one root cause. Instead, Republicans risk death by a thousand cuts, with a gradual deterioration in their standing in several important races, and their inability to field optimal candidates in others.

 

 

Foot Update

I don't know if anyone is still following or still cares but I wanted to update the foot / toe progress because finally -- FINALLY!! -- there's actually been positive progress.  Brief recap:  Had toe surgery last December to solve pain in my 2nd toe of the right foot, although the surgery was on the big toe.  Following surgery, had severe pain in big toe that never went away, indicating nerve damage.  Went to at least 8 different doctors (besides my fucking asshole surgeon who fucked me up way way way worse than I was before I saw him).  Diagnoses varied between localized nerve damage and RSD (aka CRPS), which is more a disorder of the central nervous system in which signals of pain are being sent to the brain despite there being no damage.  As it turns out after all these doctors, RSD is what I have, and it's incurable.  As in there are no doctors who have figured out what the hell is happening with these nerves and how to make them stop sending pain signals.  It's a debilitating disorder for hundreds of thousands of people and typically is the result of some trauma to a limb (in my case, and in a lot of cases, the foot).  The worst cases result in it spreading to other limbs and leaving the afflicted person completely disabled AND in pain all the time.  I don't have anywhere near the worst case but several times over the past 8 months, I've looked at a disabled person and been envious because at least -- presumably -- they weren't in pain.  Of course, I could still walk so I'm exaggerating but the American Medical Assocation named RSD as the disorder with the greatest amount of pain.  Seriously, if you've ever been in pain, what I (and so many others) have gone through was worse.  And it doesn't ever go away.  But it can be treated and so far I've found an excellent doctor (Dr. Cohen in Hamilton, NJ -- shout out!) who started my treatments in July and since then I've gone from regularly a 7 or 8 out of 10 on the pain scale to a 2 or 3 today.  The treatments consisted of sympathetic lumbar blocks -- basically injections in my lower back at the site of the nerves that travel down to my big toe to numb them.  I had 3 injections and they were miracle workers but the last one didn't do much, which was obviously disappointing.  As a result Dr. Cohen recommended stopping the injections and moving to "drug therapy" (my explanation) which basically consisted of upping the dosage on the Gabapentin I was taking already (prescribed by another doctor).  While I was skeptical that would do anything (I'd been taking it for months and still in tons of pain), the last 3 weeks on the increased dose have been much, much less painful.  I had no problems in Vermont.  I had no problems at two concerts last weekend and getting lost on subways in the City.  My days have been relatively pain free, with some exceptions (wearing shoes still hurts, so I've been giving my new sandals a workout), and obviously I'm feeling better mentally as a result.  I've even been working out again -- I started with just the bike at the gym and now I'm up to 15 minutes on the elliptical, which 3 months ago caused a massive relapse that lasted weeks.  So far (based on a week on the elliptical) so good.  And the physical exercise is definitely a key to helping to heal the nerve from what I've read (and what Dr. Cohen tells me), so if the drug is helping with the pain which helps me exercise more, which helps the nerve heal somehow, then it's all good.  Again, there is no cure and no one in the world really knows what's causing RSD but... I'm hopeful again.  So anyway, hopefully this is the last foot update and the next will be I'm back to "normal," whatever that is, but pain free is all I'm asking for and that's getting closer by the day.  Thanks to all for your support through this horrible, horrible, horrible year.

 

Brew Fest 2012

Bennington, VT

Last year at this time, Vermont was recovering from the horrible destruction of Hurricane Irene, which blew through the state and nearly knocked Brattleboro off the map, in its path flooding all access points to Mt. Snow and destroying businesses in the surrounding area.  The Brew Fest was cancelled, we headed to Dogfish Head in Delaware, and the citizens of the state tried to recover from the damage.  One year later, the 18th annual Mt. Snow Brewers' Festival was back in full force but the remnants of Irene could still be felt.  Dot's, the friendly little restaurant where we ate breakfast many times was gone, wiped away by a surging river.  Many other businesses in nearby Wilmington had yet to re-open and even the ones that had remained damaged in some ways.  Mt. Snow itself seems to have recovered but a magazine in its lobby reflecting on Irene gave stark images of the dark side of nature's force.  I did my best on Labor Day weekend to spend boatloads of cash in the state to perhaps help with the recovery and I'll admit that the memory of the storm didn't really dampen my enjoyment of the event (hell, we were at a Brew Fest days after Katrina but were completely unaware at the time the full extent of the damage).  But I do hope that those affected by the storm can recover eventually and I hope Mt. Snow continues to put on some great beer-related events.  Now on to the drunken festivies...

Taxes

My tax savings under Obama would be $2,080 in 2013 if the Republicans in Congress extend the middle class tax cut they completely agree upon but refuse to approve unless tax cuts for those who make $1M a year are extended.  Under Mitt Romney's still sketchy economic plan that was analyzed by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center and not refuted by Romney's campaign (other than to say they weren't nonpartisan), my taxes would rise by $1,339 in 2013, because he's doing an "across-the-board" tax cut that cuts my taxes by the same percentage as those making $1M or more and the money the rich people like Romney would save so overwhelms any of my savings, it would create a gaping deficit as a result.  So since Romney also claims that his plan would not raise the deficit but would instead get rid of current deductions in the tax code, you know like the mortgage deduction that saves me thousands in taxes a year, my taxes (and all the taxes of middle class families) would go up to pay for the tax breaks for the rich.  Not to pay down the deficit.  Not to create jobs or repair roads and bridges or our crumbling educational system.  No, our taxes under Mitt Romney's plan would rise in order to give the same rich people already making out extremely well in the past 30 years and extremely well after the recession even more money.  It's almost stunning that Romney is actually more trusted on the economy than Obama in recent polls.  Well it would be more stunning if the electorate had even half a clue just how incredibly far-right and incredibly devastating this current version of the Republican party is.  But please pass along this handy video to help you figure out your taxes under Obama vs. Romney for yourself.  You'll probably be surprised.  And a little pissed that somehow Romney remains within striking distance of the presidency.  And within striking distance of ruining our economy again the way Bush did just 4 years ago.