Code Monkey Like You

Molly was having a blue day a few weeks ago and I had the perfect fix for her, Code Monkey. Then I made one of my managers at work listen to it too and she then played it for her 3 yr old son, who apparently couldn't get enough Coulton and just kept dancing away to his songs all night. So check out Jonathan Coulton's website for yourself. He is a Brooklyn musician, singer-songwriter, and internet superstar and he recently undertook the challenge of writing and podcasting a song a week for a year. Not surprisingly, once you listen to him, he is good friends with John Hodgman. (They went to Yale together - it makes so much sense, even if I never met anyone half as fun during all those weekend trips out to CT to visit Irene.) You can see them on YouTube touring together to promote The Areas of My Expertise. I first heard Coulton on a knitting podcast called Cast On about a year ago. Who knew podcasts about knitting would become my new favorite source for music, particularly irony music? Anyway, you should check him out.

You can listen to all his music for free, and download quite a bit of it gratis. I highly recommend Skullcrusher Mountain and Code Monkey. Code Monkey is sure to draw you out of your funk. But explore other songs as well. His version of Baby Got Back is worth a listen and American history buffs might enjoy his song about the presidents. He also has quite a few songs for the math geeks out there.

In summation, Jonathan Coulton, You Is Awesome! (Sometimes I get a perverse joy out of using my student's grammar. I assure you they do not leave my class with that grammar, but plenty of them come in with it.)

I am just as miserable at pool as ever

I went to a work gathering tonight to say farewell to employees who have opted for non-bookstore employ in recent months. It was out of the house and therefore interesting. It helps that my fellow employees at the bookstore are interesting folk. Afterward a small group of us headed out in search of one more drink, it was early yet, but as I had feared, most of the downtown bars remained closed on a Sunday evening. Eventually we found an open bar with an Internet jukebox and some pool tables. I got into an argument about teaching and the Midwest and then played an embarrassingly bad few games of pool. Every few years I play a game just to remind myself that games involving the shooting of small balls into targets and me don't mix. I was awarded most improved player of the night. I hate that award. I won it once in high school. It is like getting a pat on the head for learning how not to trip over your own feet when everyone else knows how to ball-room dance. Oh well. It was a fun night anyway, even if I was the oldest person there at the end of the night. By the way--this post counts as a Sunday post because it isn't midnight here in the far west, even if we have set the post time as EST.

Why is there no good cheap take-out in this town?

Spokane lacks many things but one of the main problems, at least for us, is the utter lack of good cheap take-out. It is sad really. There was a semi-decent pizza place but it never stayed open past 8 o'clock at night and its employees were lazy and not-to-bright, as in they could never remember what was on their menu, no matter how many months they had been there, and reading it themselves seemed to only confuse them further. It is now closed. This is not really a surprise, but it is a disappointment. They may have been frustrating but their pizzas weren't bad and they had a very tasty salad. Aside from the pizza problem, the biggest problem is the utter lack of Chinese take-out. This town has Chinese buffets and a P.F. Changs (with plenty of Chang sauce) but no inexpensive Chinese take-out. This makes me sad. Matt has gotten quite good with the wok, and sometimes he makes things like this for us.

These things are always tasty, but on nights like tonight, when we are both exhausted and just want to collapse, call the Chinese restaurant around the corner, and veg out, these things feel impossible. Very sad.