Sending good vibes to Owen Wilson

Its midnight in LA, I am harassing my programmers and trying to figure out where everything is at. My NY programmer is still up and as we trade emails till the wee hours of the morning, it occurs to me to ask him why he is even awake. His reply was….”insomnia…and recording a song for Owen Wilson” Huh? Apparently Owen Wilson had tried to commit suicide yesterday.

Matt Fargo, one of the more colorful characters I have had the opportunity to work with, sent me this song. Its a little cheery and upbeat for a song about suicide but perhaps that is what is needed. (Click this strange play button below to hear the song)

Damien Rice at Radio City Music Hall

One of the benefits of doing work for a non-profit is getting to go to great events and meeting people on completely different terms. (They assume you are a nice/good person because of your pro-social affiliations) This past Monday, I immediately jumped on the chance to man a table at the Damien Rice concert. Granted that manning a table is by no means a glamorous job, getting into a Damien Rice concert is always a good thing (glamour or not)

Am I White and Nerdy?

Wierd Al has done it again…but somehow, this song strikes particularly too close to home. The simple fact that I can identify with much of his lyrics is a little worrying. I wonder if perhaps I am a little higher on the white and nerdy scale or if everyone identfies with the song as much as I do.

So let’s take a closer look at the lyrics….

They see me mowing my front lawn.. (hmmm, I don’t have a front or back lawn. Not in Brooklyn atleast) … MIT (does a master’s in Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU fall into the same category of nerd schools? But I was definitely not first in my class) D&D (nope, never played that but perhaps that was before my time?) MC ESCHER is my favorite MC ( I had to ask about that one…but my husband admitted to liking him) Earl Grey Tea? (check) Rims (well if I had a car they would be stationary…so check)

My library? Steven Hawkings? I have many other authors of the same type. I actually have 2 shelves dedicated to Fantasy and another 3 shelves for Science Fiction (ordered by author)

MySpace? Well I have a wiki, a blog and a ‘homepage’ I guess I can check those off.

Playing Minesweeper for days. I don’t have a high tolerence for playing computer games for many hours at a time. But I do go for those marathons every once in a while (check) PASCAL? (way before my time…does BASIC count?) Calculas? (check) Soldering gun (I did have one…but my physical computing days are over) Happy Days? (I do like that show and know all the lyrics to the song) I CAN kick your butt in a game of Ping Pong!!

Javascript? (I can do a pretty job of cutting and pasting….actually I’ll check this option of for my husband) Klingon? (Not quite but I do want to go to a convention one day)

Segway? I remeber when I really really wanted one…

Collecting comics? ( check that one for my husband and I can name afew friends off the top of my head who do… I have a friend who has a Transformer tattoo)

Pens and protectors (that is where i draw the line!) Edit wikipedia? (not yet) Holy Grail? (not me…altho it seems that i should check this off too) I do HTML for them all? (check)

Fanny pack? (I really wanted one for jogging at the park but I didn’t know where to buy one…perhaps I should have gone to the Gap) Gap? ( not me)

Clubs in highschool and college? Cheerleading, basketball, student council, volleyball, fencing….)

Kirk or Picard? Definitely Picard although Janeway kicks ass!

My summary? I am awful close to being white and nerdy…my profession doesn’t help…but living in NYC defitely adds to the ‘hip’ factor. On the other hand…I think my husband (who really IS white and is a PROGRAMMER) is for sure white and nerdy!