Friday, August 17, 2007

The Late Night Random Ten

I've survived nearly my first week at the new job, by far the hardest time of a restaurant job. Not only did we get a great review from one of the big critics, the new issue of Chicago magazine our oysters as the best in the city. Yikes! They said last night, the place was packed with "oyster snobs" comparing our oysters to those of other restaurants.

Yesterday's lunch was insanely busy, and they put me in the busiest section of the restaurant. I got my ass handed to me. I found out later that the manager wanted to leaven me a little bit. I suspect he also wanted to see if I melted down. I didn't.

Bad news on my ibook today. The screen problem was apparently caused by a bad logic board. That's a $400 or $500 repair. Instead, I went on ebay and grabbed a G4 (my old one was a G3) for $345 plus shipping. Yes, I sniped it-- I'm the sniper extraordinaire on Ebay. In any event, I can just transfer the hard drive of my old one to the new one when it arrives.

More good news was that I was able to get in and change my class to the correct one this morning. It was a good thing I did; there were only 2 seats left in the section I wanted. The next chance I would have had to switch would have been Tuesday-- the section would certainly have been closed by then.

I had a chance to chat with a counselor, and discovered that a bunch of people have gotten into the University of Illinois- Chicago's Pharmacy program from Truman College. She pointed out that it's important to develop good relationships with the professors teaching your classes, so you can get letters of recommendations from them.

I did my random ten with my ipod, since the ibook's in the shop. While I listened and blogged with the headphones on, Adam was listening to Dick Biondi on the oldies station and writing an email to our Congressman, Rahm Emanuel, with suggestions for strategies to encourage the use of environmentally-friendly energy production, including tax incentives to farmers who who allow wind turbines to be built on their land. We had a discussion about alternative energy, and I suggested some reading to him.

I've mentioned before that everybody's called him the "little man" since he was very young, and that he has an old soul. You can see why.

I have to figure out how to download pics to the desktop, so I can't show you our white trash backyard yet. This week, it's been filled with the detritus of renovation. They're working on the garage now, so there are siding panels, scrap wood, and a bunch of other crap-- in addition to the canoe. I can't wait for this to all be done.

My random 10:

1. Brown Eyed Girl- Van Morrison
2. Chevy Van- Sammy Johns
3. Maxine- Donald Fagen
4. Lookin' After No. 1- The Boomtown Rats
5. CIA Man- The Fugs
6. Guns On the Roof- The Clash
7. Maggie's Farm- Bob Dylan
8. Baby Don't Go- Sonny and Cher
9. Atlantis- Donovan
10. Uncertain Smile- The The


1. I'm old enough to remember this being played on the radio in 1967.
2. Yeah, that Chevy Van. Up there with Afternoon Delight and Disco Duck with stupid '70's songs.
3. From Nightfly, solo album from Steely Dan's Donald Fagen's, one of my favorite albums of the eighties.
4. From the great '70's punk collection No Thanks!
5. Great spoof of "Secret Agent Man," by the 60's Kings of Irreverence, The Fugs
6. The Clash's song about being arrested for taking potshots at pigeons with an air rifle. Seriously.
7. "He hands you a nickel/He hands you a dime/He asks you with a grin/If you're having a good time...."
8. Remember when Sonny and Cher were marketed as a hippy act? That was before Sonny was a Republican congressman and Cher was a diva.
9. A few posts ago, I mentioned Don't Look Back, the documentary about Dylan's 1966 tour of England, and Natalie mentioned a scene where Dylan was ripping on Donovan. I love Donovan, and particularly this song, a story-song about the fate of the fabled Atlantis.
10. Love this dark little song by Matt Johnson. In 1983 and 1984, when I was in college at Eastern Illinois University, there was a bar called Mother's that was normally a jock bar, but on Thursday nights, our friend Eddie deejayed, playing lots of punk and new wave, and we ruled the place. This song always grabbed me and carried me away-- the piano at the ending is ethereal.


20 comments:

Mob said...

Great news about the iBook via eBay, glad you got a good deal.

That seems to be the story I keep hearing about Mac technology, that it works stunningly well, until it doesn't, then it all goes in the toilet completely.

Glad you have the opportunity to upgrade fairly cheaply.

MacGuffin said...

Regrettably, sniping is the surest way to get something you really want on eBay. I learned that the hard way. Repeatedly.

Anonymous said...

Mmmmmmmmm.... oysters

Dale said...

If you don't have time, I'll take some shots of my neighbors' white trash yard for you Johnny.

Jess Wundrun said...

Speaking of Donovan and Dylan, I saw that commercial for General Electric about 'clean energy' and thought "holy crap, Bob Dylan has sold out to GE!" (But I really liked the song)

Turns out it was Donovan imitating Dylan. And though I've never seen the clip of Dylan dissing Donovan, I imagine Dylan is especially pissed now.

Here's the YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlOFrsHrWfo

Cup said...

Oh. My. Gawd. Do I love "Uncertain Smile"! Brilliant song.

Just got my tix this a.m. for the Bob Dylan/Elvis Costello show next month. Be jealous.

don'tneedtoknow said...

I'm inspired by your ability to MAKE things work out for you. You're one smart cookie.

I love Donovan's music, but I'm not crazy about him as a person. He abandoned his children from his first marriage, but we all have to live with the decisions we make, don't we.

Barbara Bruederlin said...

It takes nerves of steel to snipe effectively. Well done.

Joe said...

Glad you made it through the week.

Great list, too! Our eldest loves Donovan...she's got a soft spot for hippy music and glam rock. Nice combo.

Johnny Yen said...

Mob-
I think that's the story about all technology. PC's conk out at random times too. And cars and every other damned mechanical thing in our lives.

Macguffin-
Yeah, it is, for better or worse.

Kirby-
At the beginning of every dinner shift, they make us have some of the oysters, and compare and rate them. Damn. Having to eat oysters. Free. The pain.

Dale-
I'm taking up a collection to move you to a better neighborhood. You deserve better.

Jess-
I've seen the commercial. That song is probably the one song that led to him being called "ersatz Dylan." It's use in the GE commercial is particularly galling: GE was a main producer of engines for military airplanes, parts for nuclear power plants, etc.

Don't blame Donovan: up until pretty recently, most artists didn't own the rights to their own songs-- not even the Beatles. It was part of the price groups paid to get a contract-- the songs were owned by the publishing company, which was usually owned by the record company. My guess is that Donovan didn't even own the rights to his own songs.

Beth-
Oh man, I am jealous. I hadn't even heard about that show! I'm sure they've got a Chicago date.

Elizabeth-
I'd read interviews with his daugher Skye, who mentioned that she had no relationship with her father. That is sad.

Barbara-
Thanks! It also takes a little luck.

Bubs-
You've raised your kids well, obviously!

JR's Thumbprints said...

They just put up some more wind turbines in the Thumb area of Michigan. It's becoming very popular with the farmers there.

GETkristiLOVE said...

There's a place in Boulder called Jax Seafood where I go for my favorite oysters - kumamoto, although there are serveral other good ones to sample.

I think it's better to be almost too busy as a waiter at a coveted restaurant, than standing still somewhere not making any tips.

Unless they make you wear some dorky outfit. Do you have to wear black pants and a white shirt?

bubbles said...

bummer about the Macbook. I'm pretty new to Macs, but my brother got one about 18 months before me and his blew out a significant component recently. Fortunately he had purchased the extended 'protection plan' - so the $800 repair was covered. I bought the "protection" just before the out of box warranty expired - inspired by his story.

I *really* want to get a Mac laptop now.

Oysters, yummm! Lucky you to get to sample them! Now if they would let you sample a few glasses of wine with them that would be absolutely perfect, huh? :D

Johnny Yen said...

JR-
That might be the salvation of a lot of farmers. I think I just read that Michigan is something like third in wind energy production. Believe it or not, Texas is first.

I just read that a lot of people are buying farmland, speculating that it'll be used to produce ethanol. The article said that the last few family farmers left don't like it-- with the land values up, they may not be able to hold onto the farms. With the increased assessments (and taxes) they may be forced to sell. It's similar to what's going on in the gentrifying neighborhoods in Chicago with long-time residents.

Kristi-
It is good. Yes, black pants, but the shirts are a rainbow of colors. The owner was saying something about it recently, but I don't think he's going to do anything about it.

Bubbles-
Laptops integrate so much in order to shrink that there's more to go wrong.

Yes, we are not only able to taste the wines frequently, it's a job requirement. Darn!

Doc said...

JY- You constantly remind me I don't know jack crap about music. Could you give me a crash course? I've never heard of The Cramps, but they keep appearing in everyones list. I feel like I've missed out on a lifetimes worth of good music because we didn't have a radio when I was a kid, just Dad's Hi-Fi.

Doc

Mob said...

Too true about PC's, I'll probably hang myself when this stupid thing gets a disease.

Erik Donald France said...

I love Donovan -- hard to beat "Colours" and "Catch the Wind" and a whole lot more.

Andi said...

I'm glad to hear that you're surviving the restaurant and college craziness with gusto! Sounds like you're doing great.

And what a fantabulous 10! I need to find my iPod charger so I can actually listen to mine again.

*pout*

Pezda's Ghost said...

Uncertain Smile is great. Most of these songs are a bit before my time however.

bubbles said...

O.K., JY, now I'm really pissed at you. Oysters *and* wine? Shit.

:D