the pod bay door

Although my birthday isn’t for a few more hours (12:06 am MDT, June 28), I have received some generous birthday wishes from my fellow staff members here at the library. This included chocolates, an Irish beanie baby bear named Erin, a beautiful cake, a few silly gifts like an over-the-hill emergency medical bracelet, a few cards, and an office filled with balloons, banners and a poster. Geoff, using his PDA, recorded a few moments for posterity and for the archives, viewable in QuickTime.

:: Thanks for letting me self-indulge a bit in the previous entry. Already I’ve received some early birthday greetings from colleagues at work, who decorated a bit of my office with balloons, inflatable guitars, and a neat poster with pix and commentary. I think I’m feeling better about all of this. It is difficult to mope about a birthday when you blessed enough to be surrounded by so many people who care about you. For this I am always grateful.

:: It’s late, early in the morning on June 26. I’m sort of drifting through this week, I’m in a daze, basically. There are things about which I want to write, but I’m not feeling very coherent. Perhaps in a few days. But I turn 50 on June 28, actually at 12:06 am MDT (I was born in Winnipeg at 1:06 Central Time, way back then). I’ve been fighting this, a losing, pointless battle, yet it’s nothing I feel like celebrating. I don’t want to have to say the number. Turning 30 was nothing, 40 was more of an annoyance; 50? “Old man, look at my life…”

Leaving the Y tonight after a Pilates class, I passed a notice board with pictures of the “Fifty Plus” crowd, some of them easily in their 80s. Gee, I’ll get to join on Saturday. I wonder what the parties are like? “Turn on…the bubble a’machine…”

Frankly, I wish I felt better about this, but I don’t; not tonight, anyway. I know, I know all the reasons to feel good about it, but at the moment, those reasons have taken a sabbatical. I also accept that other factors make this birthday somewhat bittersweet. But on Saturday, and then Sunday, the sun will rise, regardless.

Despite the foregoing, it’s been a pretty good ride. I’m surrounded by the best of friends, a loving, extended family, am in good health, have a great job, to name but a few reasons for celebrating the other side of life.

I arrived back from NYC on Thursday night, somewhat bagged. Have been sleeping most of the weekend. Saw The Moody Blues last night, a good show with questionable sound; more on the show later. Saw The Hulk on Friday afternoon. Work begins tomorrow. The weather in Edmonton sucks bobos. I’m off to dim sum, and will probably return and go back to sleep. I’m also reading fiction for the first time in years, Pattern Recognition by William Gibson, and it’s a great read. It’s fun to get lost in another world for a change.

:: I’ve finished Day 1 of the EBL Conference. I’m exhausted. The day went well, met some very cool people from Australia, the UK, Norway, USA, other parts of Canada. I MC’d the door prizes at the banquet, and only made one major gaff. Now I’m home, packing for SLA on Saturday.

:: I borrow music from the public library, and listen to the CDs in my car while driving. I borrowed an album called The Last Broadcast by the band, Doves. I must’ve read a review of it somewhere, having never heard of the band. I popped it into the CD player with no expectations, and can report that it’s quickly become one of my favorite albums of the year. The biographical info on the site is a bit cryptic, and I can’t confirm if there are three or four members in the band. The record sounds like there are many more. This band must be something to see in concert, if they are able to replicate the wall of sound in some of the songs on The Last Broadcast. I might describe them as Coldplay meets Radiohead (circa OK Computer) meets the Manchester Sound. It’s a great record. More short reviews here.

The weirdest thing, like, really weird? I was listening to the album yesterday, and stopped at Zeller’s to pick up some socks. I walked in, and the music in the store was “Pounding“, my favorite song on The Last Broadcast. Hello? Who’s programming music for Zeller’s?

:: Finally, many people are relishing the indictment of Martha Stewart, but some are pointing to the hypocrisy of the non-indictment (to date) of Ken Lay, who headed Enron while it stole billions, wiped out savings of 12,000 workers, cost 5,000 workers their jobs, misled and lied to their stockholders, and nailed California by rigging electricity prices during its energy crisis. Lay and his wife, btw, have annuities which, when they reach maturity in 2007, will provide guaranteed monthly payments for life of $43,023 to Lay, and $32,643 to his wife.

:: It’s late on Tuesday, the continuing calm before the storm. Thanks to everyone who contributed comments on purchasing a digital camera. I’ll either wait until I return from NYC, or buy one there if the opportunity presents itself.

:: My review of Nowhere in Africa, for Blogcritics.

:: Sometimes it’s cool to just sit and listen. A friend called today, concerned about something. I invited her over, and she sat and talked for an hour, and felt better afterwards. I offered the occasional comment or observation, but beyond that, just a sounding board.

:: My suitcase is open in the spare bedroom, as I slowly prepare for NYC. Tomorrow I help move supplies and registration for the EBL conference, and I attend the conference on Thursday and Friday. Thursday night is the banquet. Not a lot of time in between to organize and pack.

:: The new Steely Dan album, Everything Must Go, can be heard in its entirety on the Reprise site. But please, if you can, watch the five-segment video, Steely Dan Confessions, on the same site, in which Don and Walt ride around Las Vegas in Rita’s cab. You MUST watch the second one, “Lizzie on lyrics“, in which Lizzie tells Walt and Don that her boyfriend grooved her on to “you guy’ses music” in college. The piece de resistance is when she asks them about the lyrics to “Reelin’ In The Sheaves”, and Donald sez, “Reelin’ In The Sheaves, that was one of our best numbers.” I’m still laughing.

:: I watched the final episode of the third season of Six Feet Under tonight. A brilliant show, I found the third season a bit tiresome and weary – the focus was on the relationships of each of the main players, and after a few episodes of each of their relationships deteriorating, people screaming at each other, an art teacher who defined pretention, the show began to feel like an unwelcome visitor. I hope it improves next year.