I know I’m about a year late to the party but I met Portlandia tonight and it makes me happy.
Thirty seconds in I laughed out loud at “Portland is a place where young people go to retire.”
And then I laughed out loud many more times.
I haven’t done that in a while.
It was nice.
My stress level is pretty much off the chart right now to begin with and will be for the next ten days or so.
What does not help is long, rambling 25-minute phone calls from my dad, strategically placed at the precise moment when I’m trying simultaneously to deal with work, a busted computer monitor, and the fact that apparently everyone who’s ever worked in mortgage lending at Bank of America is either an idiot or a flake who can’t return phone calls or email. Or both.
I liked my dad much better when he hated using the phone. And I liked Bank of America much better when…well…I never liked them, but at least I used to never have to interact with them either.
Yes, I realize this is a completely pointless rant, but I needed to yell about it somewhere before going to bed after not getting a damned thing done all night. It was a really bad day. I may need another Portlandia.
Since I’m unlikely ever to move back to California nor to be married, yesterday’s ruling has no personal impact on me. But it may impact a lot of people I know. And it’s kind of cool that a federal court–albeit probably the most liberal federal court there is, in a rather narrow ruling–has now actually ruled in favor of same-sex marriage.
I’m mildly worried that the this path to the Supreme Court may be starting a bit early. That might lead to an premature and unfavorable ruling which would cause problems for years to come (sort of a Plessy v.Ferguson for the 21st Century). But I’ll go ahead and be excited anyway. The time will come soon. However, let’s also not lose sight of the fact that even the most basic nondescrimination legislation is still not in place in a lot of states–my own, for example.
More exciting news for a Wednesday night:
I guess I won’t be going to Clifton’s on this summer’s LA trip after all. I somehow missed the story about its having been sold. I’m glad the place is to be preserved (and as a cafeteria, yet) but I’m always suspicious of renovations, particularly in gentrifying areas. I love the decor but I also love the dowdiness and I hope it doesn’t get sanitized too much.
This brings up another preservation issue as well: The modern facade was actually in place for much more of Clifton’s existence than the original. Which is really the more “historic” version? But it’s too damned early for me to think about that.
The Pursuit of Happiness
She’s So Young (1988)
You can definitely hear the Todd Rundgren influence more in this one (which was apparently much bigger in Canada than in the US) than this one.
Spending my Saturday night setting up my new phone. It’s sort of like watching paint dry. But I’m still excited.
A friend just texted me that apparently all the rock and roll drag queens of my misspent youth will be at the big queer bar in Greensboro tonight, including Atlanta’s (and formerly Greensboro’s) very own Lily White. For a brief second I considered going just to see some old friends. Then I contemplated the logistics of driving thirty miles each way (a drive I already make five days a week) in the cold (19F tonight) after being up and busy since 7AM (I was scrubbing the toilets by 8:30) and bed started seeming much more appealing. And after the last time I did so, I sort of promised myself I’d never walk into a North Carolina queer bar again, anyway.
The new phone is now functioning nicely and I am in fact going to bed. I really don’t intend to do much of anything when I wake up either. I finished most of my grant stuff on Friday and celebrated that night by taking myself out for lasagna at Cagney’s. Today was about errands and taking care of things. I will continue the celebration tomorrow by not working (for the first Sunday in three weeks), not thinking about family stuff, and maybe not even leaving the house. Siri and I may spend some time together, but that’s about it. I’m rather looking forward to it.
Jeez. It’s not like I didn’t already feel old enough this morning.
What’s not to love about a Krispy Kreme doughnut with a hot fudge sundae on top of it?
I don’t often talk about stats these days because…well…there’s not much to talk about. But over the past year, my top traffic-generating metro areas have been:
Interestingly enough, I get a fair amount of hits from the Triad that don’t seem to originate from me, although I never hear from any of these people and have no idea who they are.
Mac penetration is high among my users, at 25% (30% if you count iOS). Microsoft Internet Exploder penetration, on the other hand, is mercifully low, at just under 30%. Firefox is tops, with 32%, followed by IE, Chrome (19%) and Safari (17%). Users are just about evenly split between new and returning visitors, with 16% of all visits coming from users who hit the site more than one hundred times per year. The average viewer looks at 1.88 pages per visit and spends a whopping minute and a half on the site.
The most popular posts over the past year?
As far as years go, my users prefer 2011 to 1999. I’m not entirely sure I agree. And the number one traffic source that’s not a search engine continues to be this page at deadmalls.com, which explains the top-ranked post above.
This, mind you, is the traffic for Otherstream. In case size matters, Groceteria gets about ten times the traffic of this site and does not skew nearly so pro-Mac nor anti-IE.
I guess this is the best we’re going to do this year. Oh well. At least it provided me with an extra hour and a half in bed this morning, although I’m not entirely sure why.
Sloan
People of the Sky (1994)
Random linkage for a Thursday night spent with Netflix and a cookie:
That it should be so warm at 9PM in February makes me just a little unhappy. That it has been freakishly warm pretty much all winter long makes me feel just a little bit cheated.
Sorry. The headline just amused me.
I’ve had my new iPhone for more than a week now and I have three thoughts on the subject:
So the Sears death spiral continues. I’ve had sex in their bathrooms, sworn at their lawyers, and occasionally even bought stuff there. I predict that by 2020 (if not sooner) none of these will be options anymore.
I have now had my FaceTime cherry popped. Thank you, Duncan.
…if I might soon be rewarded with one solid month where everything doesn’t suck?
It would be cool if I could schedule that for March, please.
Luke Doucet
Thinking People (2010)
Sorry I was whiny earlier. I’ll shut up and play some music now…
